Obituaries:  Helen Virginia Davis Auten, Sabine Parish       A-350
Source:  Sabine Index, Many, La., Nov 19, 1997
Submitted by: Carl Dilbeck
              carlrad@earthlink.net 


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Helen Viginia Davis Auten

  A memorial service for Helen Virginia Davis Auten was held on Friday, Nov. 7
at 3 p.m. at the Lakewood Assembly of God Church in Dallas, Texas. She was
buried at Restland Cemetery in Dallas.

  Mrs. Auten, 67, died Tuesday, Nov. 4 at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas
following a 6 1/2-year battle with cancer.

  She was preceded in death by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. James E. Davis of
Many.

  Survivors include her husband, Charles Windsor Auten Jr.; one daughter,
Kathlyn Auten Yearsley and son-in-law, Greg Yearsley of Garland, Texas; one
son, Charles W. Auten III and daughter-in-law, Kathy Auten of Parker, Colorado;
two grandsons, Connor Nathaniel Yearsley and Charles W. Auten IV (Skip); a
sister, Peggy Davis Andelman of Garland, Texas; two aunts, Margaret Lewis and
Barbara Hoffpauir of Crowley, La.; two nephews and their families and several
cousins.

  Originally from Monroe, she was a graduate of Many High. She earned a double
major (BME) in music at Southwestern Louisiana Institute in Lafayette in 1952.
After teaching music at the College and Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand
Coteau and then supervising music in the Louisiana public school system, she
went to work for Braniff International Airways as a flight attendant. She was
based in Kansas City, Missouri and it was there that she met her husband, who
was a Braniff pilot.

  The family moved to Dallas in 1968 and then to Hidden Valley Park near Denton
in 1986.

  An anti-pesticide activist, she co-founded Citizens Against Pesticide Misuse
(CAPM) in 1982 and worked to increase public awareness of the hazards of
pesticide misuse by collecting and distributing information and by testifying
at special hearings on the subject in Austin and Washington D.C. CAPM was
founded after she moved out of her own home because of problems associated
with chemicals used by a pest control company. While lobbying government
officials in the nation's capitol, she connected with people across the
country who had suffered health problems from similar chemical exposure.

  It was her work and dedication that helped CAPM win the Texas Outstanding
Public Service Award eight years ago.

  She was recognized as a courageous woman who always did whatever she could
to make things right, no matter how difficult. She cared for her family with
tireless energy and if something needed to be done, she wouldn't rest until it
was. She set a standard that her family will be challenged to meet.