An educator himself, James Allen said no one could match the educational skills of his mother, Helen Allen.
"I always told people she was the best teacher I knew as I was growing up," he said. "She would spend hours and hours at night grading papers and working with students to ensure they were successful."
Helen W. Allen of Elizabeth Township died on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011, in the Southwestern Nursing Center, West Mifflin. She was 96.
Mrs. Allen was born Dec. 8, 1914, in Forward to Eugene Speers Wiegel and Maude Emilie Sutter Wiegel.
She graduated from Slippery Rock State Teachers College in 1936 with a bachelor's degree in health and physical education and was a member of the field hockey team.
She coached girls basketball and taught at Shenango High School in Lawrence County, then returned to her alma mater, Elizabeth High School, to teach girls physical education and health and to coach girls basketball.
During 34 years of teaching in the Elizabeth Forward School District, Mrs. Allen coached cheerleading, sponsored the athletic association and produced gymnastics shows.
"She was just a model health and physical education teacher," said James Allen of Chicora, a retired principal and teacher in the Butler Area School District. "She didn't smoke, and she maybe had a mixed drink once or twice every 15 years."
He added that "her career meant a lot to her, but not nearly as much as her family," as Mrs. Allen took time off to raise him and his older brother, Robert of Elizabeth.
Throughout her career, and well after her retirement, Allen said, his mother loved sewing, needlepoint and other crafts, along with oil and china painting. She was a member of the Women's Club of Elizabeth for more than 66 years, serving as its president, and a member of the Pittsburgh Porcelain Artists Club and the Pennsylvania Federation of China Painters.
Family attorney Rebecca Shaw McHolme of Elizabeth said Mrs. Allen taught her gym class decades ago, when the girls wore "those little white one-piece uniforms."
Even as Mrs. Allen grew older, McHolme said, she attended Bethesda United Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth every week. She was a member of the church choir for many years, as well as a member of the Women's Association, the Mizpah Bible Class and the memorial committee.
"She was totally devoted," McHolme said. "She would be coming to church no matter how frail she was. She always wanted to be involved."
In addition to her two sons, James and Robert, Mrs. Allen is survived by her daughters-in-law, Lisa Allen of Elizabeth and Cindy Allen of Chicora; one sister, Virginia Irvin of Glen Burnie, Md.; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Daniel E. Allen, a sister, Thelma Wiegel, and two brothers, Robert S. Wiegel and Eugene Wiegel.
Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. today in Paul E. Bekavac Funeral Home, 221 N. Second Ave., Elizabeth. A service will be held at noon Wednesday in the funeral home chapel with the Rev. Alice Fisler officiating.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Bethesda United Presbyterian Church, 314 S. Third Ave., Elizabeth, PA 15037.
