Helen Keller Baldwin McGaha

Helen Keller Baldwin McGaha, 90, of Spruce Pine, NC passed on to heaven on June 23,2017. She was born July 11, 1927 in Greenville, SC to Robert Curtis Baldwin and Sudie Mary Allison Baldwin of Greenville.

On March 31, 1961, she married Joseph W. McGaha of Brevard, NC and they made their home in Greenville, SC until they moved to rural Transylvania County, outside Brevard, in their late seventies. She and Joe were married for 50 years until his passing in 2011.

Helen attended public schools in the Greenville area and was a member of the First Baptist Church of Mauldin when she lived in Greenville. Athletic as a child, she loved basketball and softball and was said to have been able to pitch better than any of her fellow female or male players. Her love of softball and baseball became a lifetime passion. During World War II, she worked in Quality Control in a local plant that produced fabric for parachutes used by the United States Armed Forces in the war effort. Later she worked in Quality Control for Her Majesty in Greenville. A lover of the outside, Helen enjoyed gardening and often said she would rather be on a tractor than working inside. Her favorite food was fried chicken legs, followed closely by fried okra, and she earned the nickname “the Chicken Leg Queen” during her years in Spruce Pine. She loved her family, made and enjoyed lifelong friends, and had a knack for being a good friend to others. She developed a well-deserved reputation for witty poems and one-liners that conveyed wisdom about life that she was happy to share with a twinkle in her eye. She did not approve of gossip and, when invited to participate in it, said, “There was an old owl that lived in an oak; the more he saw, the less he spoke.” She was a person of deep faith and trusted the Lord.

Helen was preceded in death by her parents, her maternal and paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell (Genie) Allison and Mr. and Mrs. Hugh (Mamie) Baldwin, her sisters, Carol Irene Baldwin Yates and her husband, Ray; Doris Pauline Baldwin Ward and her husband, Jack; and her brother, Charles Dennis Baldwin and his wife, Juanita. She is survived by her brother, Robert Earl Baldwin and his wife, Emily, of West Columbia, SC, four nieces and three nephews and their spouses, several great- and great-great nieces and nephews, and several cousins. She also leaves behind several longtime friends.

The funeral service will be held Tuesday, June 26 at 3:00 PM in the Mausoleum at Greenville Memorial Gardens, 7784 Augusta Road, Piedmont, SC. Helen’s dear friend, the Rev. James Walters, of Hickory, NC, will officiate. Interment will follow in the cemetery.

The family wishes to express special thanks to Peggy McGuire of Rosman, NC for her extraordinary and exemplary friendship and generous gifts of the heart to Helen and Joe during the last years of their lives. The family also wishes to thank all of those who cared for Helen with loving attention at Mitchell House (Affinity Living Group) and Hospice & Palliative Care of the Blue Ridge, Inc. in Spruce Pine, NC where Helen made her home from 2014 until her passing.

Memorial donations may be made to Mitchell House, 13681 Hwy. 226 South, Spruce Pine, NC 28777 or to the charity of one’s choice.

Arrangements were provided by Mackey Funerals and Cremations at Woodlawn Memorial Park of Greenville, SC.