Helen S. Frick, Educator And Civil Rights Leader, Dies
Times Picayune  05-4-1996

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Launched Head Start program Helen Simon Frick, a retired educator and
Covington community and civic leader, died Wednesday. She was 81.

A New Orleans native, Mrs. Frick lived in Covington for the past 62 years.

She was the first president of the board of the Regina Coeli Child Development
Center in Covington, which runs the local Head Start Program. She was
instrumental in getting the local Head Start launched in 1969, when there were
no nursery schools for black children in the community. She was president of
the board for 13 years.

During the 1960s, Mrs. Frick worked with author Walker Percy and other
prominent citizens in the city's Community Relations Council, which helped to
ease school integration and promote harmony among the races.

A longtime advocate of public housing for the city's poor, she was a member of
the Covington Housing Authority. In 1993, when the authority completed the
city's first public housing units, it named 40 of the homes "Helen Frick
Village" in her honor.

In 1983, the Greater Covington Chamber of Commerce honored Mrs. Frick as its
"Citizen of the Year" in recognition of her many years of community service.

In 1971, Mrs. Frick became the first black member of the St. Tammany League of
Women Voters and later was the local chapter's vice president. She remained
active in league affairs until her death.

She also was a member of the St. Tammany Parish and Covington planning
commissions. In 1983, she served a six-month stint on the old St. Tammany
Parish Council, completing the unexpired term of John Venturella.

In 1993, the Covington Civic League dedicated its annual Martin Luther King
Jr. celebration in her honor. Last year, Covington Mayor Keith Villere
proclaimed April 15 "Helen Frick Day."

Mrs. Frick was a member of the St. Peter's Catholic Church Council in
Covington, a board member and former vice president of the Covington Habitat
for Humanity, former president of the St. Tammany Council on Aging and a board
member of the West St. Tammany Parenting Center.

She taught at elementary schools in the Covington and Abita Springs area for
35 years, beginning as a second- and third-grade teacher at Rosenwald School
in Covington when she was 19.

Survivors include her husband, Leroy F. Frick; two daughters, Rosetta Silvan
of Davenport, Iowa, and Carolyn Graham of Dallas; a sister, Rosetta Lawrence
of New Orleans; eight grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

A Mass will be said today at 10:30 a.m. at St. Peter's Catholic Church, 128 E.
19th Ave., Covington. Visitation will begin at 9:30 a.m. Burial will be in
Wilson Cemetery. Jacob Schoen & Son Funeral Home in Covington is in charge of
arrangements.