A native of Bethune, SC, Helen has lived all her adult life in Savannah, where she headed a nationally recognized victim advocacy program in the district attorney’s office. Inspired by the resilience of thousands of crime victims and their families, she spearheaded passage of a dozen pieces of legislation, including the Georgia Crime Victims’ Bill of Rights and a crime victims’ compensation program. Familiar with the MeToo movement before it became a catchphrase, Helen also served on the boards of several child advocacy, domestic violence, and sexual assault organizations.

A former newspaper journalist, Helen has written curricula, essays, and articles for the National Organization for Victim Assistance, the National Center for Victims of Crime, and the Georgia Victim Assistance Academy. Her writing has been published in The Savannah Anthology, Savannah Magazine, The Savannah Morning News, and Law Enforcement Magazine. She volunteered for 10 years with Deep Center, a Savannah youth literacy program that won a 2015 National Endowment for the Arts award.

In August 2022, Helen won first place in a national essay contest out of a field of 55 entries. NextTribe, the “voice of women aging boldly,” sponsored the contest in which Helen’s essay, “From High Heels to Hot Wheels,” reveals how she unexpectedly became a first-time mom at the age of 52, when her husband’s two-year-old grandson came to live with them.

After leaving her victim advocacy career, Helen launched her own business, Savannah Simple Weddings. She officiates weddings and her sister takes the pictures. She’s currently writing her next novel based on her real-life adventures as a wedding officiant and custodial grandmother. 

Helen has an English degree from Clemson University where writing for the university newspaper, The Tiger, sparked her interest in journalism. She earned her master’s degree in public administration from Georgia Southern University, and has taught victim advocacy and media relations courses across the country. A trained crisis responder, she was privileged to lead a team of advocates to New York after 9/11. 

Helen’s been a member of Wednesday Writers, a critique group, for a decade, and they were recently interviewed on WRUU 107.5 Savannah FM to discuss the process of reaching out to agents and publishing houses, the Ossabaw Island retreat, Savannah courthouse drama, letting real people find their way into your writing, how a group keeps you accountable, having book events in local shops, and the usefulness of Query Tracker. (Listen to the interview here.)

Helen enjoys devouring chocolate chip cookies, practicing yoga, and reading obituaries. She lives in Savannah with her husband, teenage grandson, and an antisocial rescue cat.