Helen Gibbs Obituary

Helen Henningsen Pringle Gibbs CHARLESTON - Helen Henningsen Pringle Gibbs died Sunday, January 22 at her home in Charleston after an 11-month struggle with cancer. She was 81 years old. Born in Charleston on March 2, 1941, Helen was the eldest child of Ashmead Forrester Pringle, Jr., and Helen Margaret Johansen Pringle. She began her life by excelling in the roles expected of a young lady. She went on to make her own way as a woman. She attended Charleston Day School, Ashley Hall, and Mount Holyoke College. At Ashley Hall she was President of the Senior Class, Editor of Cerberus, and Latin Club Aedile and Consul. While at Mount Holyoke, she placed in the Intercollegiate Glascock Poetry Prize, was a gifted Latin scholar, and fell in love with Italian art, culture, history, and-of course-language. Throughout her life, she was an avid reader of all work, high and low; she carried immense and deep erudition with lightness and grace. Helen had a long and successful career running corporate communications for the Safe Flight Instrument company in White Plains, New York. After retirement, she worked as a freelance editor, returning with her family to South Carolina and eventually home to Charleston. In addition to her striking abilities and work with language, she was a gifted and athletic gardener and a lifelong creative photographer, making black and white prints in the darkroom she built herself at home, and later continuing this work in the digital era. Helen shone with the best attributes of both her parents. She was a superb, welcoming hostess. Her sense of humor was quick, wry and never hurtful and she was an engaging and entertaining storyteller. She sensed other people's needs and gave steadfast love and support. At the same time and in manifold situations, she was a leader, voicing strong, direct opinions. She knew her own mind. She was, both solo and with her husband by her side and her young children in tow, an adventurous traveler. A quick study with foreign languages and customs, she was genuinely at home in the wider world. She lived with courage, curiosity, and love. Helen is survived by her devoted family: her husband, Dr. James Gendron Gibbs, Jr.; her children, Affra Coming Gibbs and James Gendron Gibbs III (Richard Andrew Page); her siblings, Ashmead Forrester Pringle III (Drexel Dennis Pringle), Margaret Pringle Schachte (Hal Sevier Currey), and Phyllis Johansen Pringle (Frank Garate); as well as numerous nieces and nephews and great-nieces and -nephews. A memorial service and celebration will be held at South Carolina Society Hall on Saturday, March 11 at 3:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Pompion Hill Foundation, 292 Halidon Hill Lane, Huger, SC 29450. Visit our guestbook at legacy.com/obituaries/charleston