Peck, Helen
PECK (DYKES), Helen Theresa
Helen Theresa Dykes Peck, a woman of accomplishment, died on December 2, 2021 at her home in the KingsBridge Retirement Community in DeKalb County, Georgia. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana on May 4, 1921, she lived 100 years and 7 months.
Helen graduated from high school in 1939 in Bogalusa, Louisiana. Her father, H. Emmett Dykes, was a teacher. Her mother, Arnette Thrailkill Dykes, was a small business woman. Helen graduated in 1942 from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette with a B.A. in English. She graduated in 1944 from Louisiana State University with a B.S in Library Science. She was admitted to the Phi Kappa Phi honor society at LSU.
Helen joined the State Library of Louisiana, working to open new libraries. On April 28, 1946, the Washington Parish Library opened with Helen Dykes as the founding librarian.
She met her future husband, James Peck, while at UL-L. He married another UL-L student, Betty Kate Lee, in 1946. A daughter, Katherine Elizabeth, was born to them in 1950. After Betty Kate died in early 1952, Jim and Helen renewed their friendship. They were married in Bogalusa on January 24, 1953.
The family lived in Nederland, Texas, New Orleans, Winston-Salem, and Lenoir, North Carolina as Jim's education and work as a Baptist minister took him. In every community, Helen worked as a librarian. In 1959, the family moved to the DeKalb County suburbs of Atlanta when Jim began working for the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
They were charter members of Briarcliff Baptist Church, where Helen organized a library, sang in the choir, and held positions of leadership
On January 21, 1958, James, Jr., was born in Lenoir, Helen's only child, and Jim's second child and only son.
James, Sr., was killed in a one-car auto accident on August 12, 1961 in Dallas, Georgia. A widow at 40, she returned to work as a librarian, joining the DeKalb County Public Schools. She was assigned to Warren Elementary School when it opened in 1963 and remained there until her retirement in 1983.
Helen traveled in much of United States, and participated in Friendship Force trips to England, the Netherlands, China, and Ireland. Her Road Scholar ventures took her all over the United States. She visited her son in New York, Colorado, Minnesota, and California, and family in Florida, Louisiana, and Arkansas.
She enjoyed music, museums of all kinds; sewing; gardening; reading; and shopping at antique shops, flea markets, and yard sales. She read the Atlanta newspaper every day.
She was predeceased by her parents, H. Emmett and Arnette Dykes; her husband, James C. Peck, Sr; her stepdaughter, Katherine Elizabeth Peck; her brother Hugh E. Dykes and his wife, Louise Chambless Dykes; her father and mother-in-law, Wilson J. Peck and Mary Jane Peck; her brother-in-law, Wilson J. Peck. Jr., and his wife, Evelyn Kelley Peck, and her brother-in-law, Clyde Sebastian.
Helen is survived by her son, James C. Peck, Jr., of Chico, California; her sister-in-law, Beatrice Peck Sebastian, of Lafayette, Louisiana. Nieces Sally Dykes Cario (Frank) of Spring, Texas, and their family; Fran Sebastian Himel (Mark) of Chicago, Illinois, and their family; and Virginia Peck, of Lafayette, Louisiana. Nephews Emmett Dykes of Bradenton, Florida, and his family; Kelley Peck (Charlotte) of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and their family; Henry Sebastian, of Lafayette, Louisiana; and Chip Sebastian (Kelli), of Lafayette, Louisiana, and their family.
A cemetery service and burial will be at Greenlawn Memorial Gardens in Lafayette, Louisiana on February 22, 2022 at 1:30 PM. Masks are requested by her son. No memorial service will be held in Atlanta. A Facebook page called Helen Peck Memorial has been established. Please visit that page after February 26 to view memorial content.
Memorial gifts may be made to Washington Parish Library, 825 Free St., Franklinton, LA 70438; McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University, 3001 Mercer University Dr, Atlanta, GA 30341; Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Foundation, P.O. Box 102972, Atlanta, GA 30368-2972.
