"Helen Denny Howard, aged 85 years, of 145 W. High Street, Waynesburg, died at 9:35 a.m. Tuesday, September 15, 1981 at the Greene County Memorial Hospital following a brief illness.

Born in Waynesburg on March 26, 1896, she was a daughter of the late Eleazer Luse and Louise Inghram Denny, each a descendant of Southwestern Pennsylvania pioneer families.

On November 12, 1924, she married Willis George Howard of Chicago who preceded her in death.

She was a life-long member of the First Presbyterian Church of Waynesburg.

She attended the Dana Hall School and Pine Manor Junior College, both at Wellesley, Mass., and earned a Bachelor of Music in violin in1918 and a Bachelor of Arts in 1919 from Waynesburg College.

Waynesburg College conferred upon her an honorary Doctorate of Music in 1938, and the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1971.

She studied voice four years with Herbert Witherspoon in New York and sang in Church, Oratorio, Concert and had leading roles with the DeFeo Grand Opera in Baltimore. A soloist with the 60-piece Wassali Leps Philadelphia Orchestra, she also sang with the Wheatcroft Opera Guild of New York City and New England.

In 1948, she organized the Christopher Gist Chapter, Daughters of the American Colonists. She advanced to Honorary National President; National President; Vice-President, Atlantic Coast Section; Pennsylvania State Regent; State Vice Regent; Organizing Regent, Christopher Gist Chapter and Parliamentarian, N. S. D. A. C.

She was also an Honorary President of the National Gavel Club.

She was Deputy Governor of the Hereditary Order Descendants of Colonial Governors; National Councilor, National Society Colonial Daughters of the 17th Century; Curator General, Order of the Crown of Charlemagne in the U.S.A.; Recording Secretary General, Order of Three Crusades, 1096-1190; Trustee, National Society Dames of the Court of Honor; Councilor, Society of Friends of St. George's Descendants of Knights of the Garter; and Founder Member, Society of Descendants of William I, the Conqueror.

The Hereditary Register lists her membership in 26 national lineage societies: National Society Daughters of the Barons of Runnemede, Order of the Crown in America, Americans of Armorial Ancestry, The Descendants of Lords of the Maryland Manors, Order of the First Families of Virginia, 1607-1620, Jamestown Society, Americans of Royal Descent, Living Descendants of Royal Blood, Magna Carta Dames, Plantagenet Society, British-American Society, and Huguenot Society.

She was also a member of N. S. Daughters of the American Revolution, N. S. Daughters of Colonial Wars, N. S. New England Women, N. S. Women Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery, Plymouth Colony, N.S. U. S. Daughters of 1812, National Association of Parliamentarians, Who’s Who of American Women, Association of American University Women, Alpha Delta Phi Sorority and Judge of Awards, and the Freedom Foundation of Valley Forge.

She was one of the three for whom Waynesburg College's Denny Hall was named, and was a long-time supporter of the college.

She is survived by a sister, Josephine Denny at home. Another sister, Mrs. Mary Denny Weaver, preceded her in death."