Helen was born February 15, 1914, and died November 14, 2017, at the incredible age of one hundred and three years. Born the daughter of Washington Russel and Annie Bates, she attended public and private schools before marrying Manford Zenneth Taft Bentley (Deceased). She was the mother of two children, John Philip Bentley (Wife, Linda Bentley) and Randall Taft Bentley (Wife, Tammie Bentley), four grandchildren, Baron Taft Bentley ( Son of Randall Taft); Vicki Bentley Neubert( Wife of Kevin Neubert), Lisa Bentley Galloway (Husband Deceased), and John Philip II,(Son and daughters of John Philip), and six great grandchildren, Zachary Galloway and Derek Galloway(Sons of Lisa), and Isaiah Bentley, Abby Bentley, Bodie Bentley, and Heidi Bentley (Son and daughters of John Philip II). Helen taught school for more than thirty years in Letcher and Floyd County, Kentucky, worked as a munitions expediter in Hamilton, Ohio during World War II, served her community as President of the Whitesburg Garden Club, President of  the Letcher County Historical Society, President of the Letcher County Teacher's Organization, Member of the Letcher County Library Board, worked in the Bentley Grocery store in Whitesburg with Zenneth, survived to be the oldest member of the First Baptist Church of Whitesburg, and traveled as far as Alaska and Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean, England, Scotland, Italy, and Switzlerland. Her life spanned most of the Twentieth Century from World War I and Women first exercising the right to vote, on through the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, and into World War II, and the Cold War. She saw the election of John F. Kennedy and the moon landing, the Vietnam War, the dawn of the Computer Age, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the USSR, the endless wars in the Middle East, and the economic miracle of a democratic Japan. She witnessed the Digital Age of the Twentieth First Century and the rise of giants, China and India, before leaving a well-lived life behind. Funeral: 12:00 O'clock Noon Saturday, November 18, 2017 at the Whitesburg First Baptist Church with Tony Brown officiating. Visitation: 6:00 P.M. Friday at the Whitesburg First Baptist Church. Burial will follow in the Bill Bates Cemetery at Blackey, Kentucky.    
 

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