Helen attended Waco High School, Waco, TX. She graduated from the University of Texas (UT) in 1948 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History. Helen was a member of The Phi Beta Kappa Society and the Alpha Phi Sorority. In the summer of 1948, she attended Middlebury College German Summer School in Vermont, returning that fall to UT as a graduate student and teaching fellow in German.
In August 1949, Helen married Thomas H. Green, Jr. and moved to Houston where Tom worked for Shell Oil Company. In 1950, she received a Master of Arts degree in German from what was then Rice Institute. The following year she taught Latin at St. John’s School in Houston. During her lifetime, in addition to German and Latin, she studied ancient Greek and French and gained a working knowledge of Dutch.
For the next 36 years, Helen and Tom lived the life of corporate gypsies, in Houston four different times, the New York City area 3 times, and in between in Southern California, the Hague, and London. During those years, she was variously involved in child-rearing, volunteer work, and the care and feeding of a succession of cats and dogs.
When Tom retired in 1986, they moved to the Tierra Linda Ranch community in the Hill Country between Kerrville and Fredericksburg, where she immersed herself in taking care of their 34 acres, cutting cedar, hauling brush, and digging thistles, buffalo burrs, and horse nettle. At the end of the day, she enjoyed sitting on her porch and watching the deer and antelope and the occasional turkey, skunk, possum and raccoon and, on rare occasions, a fox or a ringtail. In addition to her agrarian pursuits, she continued to pursue her interests in history and languages, authoring an article on one of her Texas ancestors published in the Handbook of Texas. She also enjoyed traveling with Tom on many European and domestic golfing vacations.
Helen was preceded in death by her husband, Tom. She is survived by her five children, Elizabeth Green (William Peters), of Tucson, AZ; Sarah Nahhas (Mouffa Nahhas), of Arlington, TX; Susan Green (David Thompson), of San Francisco, CA; Rebecca Hobgood (William Hobgood), of Lantana, TX; and Thomas H. Green, III (Kimberly Green) of Seattle, WA; her grandchildren, Wendy Peters, Anwar Nahhas (Alison Nahhas), Omar Nahhas (Sabena Nahhas), Sammair Nahhas, Halah Thomason (Jett Thomason), Sarah Thompson, Andrew Thompson, Taylor Green and Thomas H. Green, IV; and her great grandchildren, Adelyn Nahhas, Annabelle Nahhas, Tara Talati, Lucas Nahhas, Shaffer Thomason, Layla Thomason, and Remy Thomason.
If considering a memorial gift, in lieu of flowers, donations in her memory can be made to the Kathleen C. Cailloux Humane Society of Kerrville, Texas; Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation, Inc. in Kendalia, Texas or to the charity of your choice.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.moore-funeralhome.com for the Green family.
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