By Obituary

Town Crier Staff Report

Helen DeCoursey, a longtime Town Crier employee renowned as much for her sense of humor and loyalty to her church as her unerring efficiency in classified advertising, died April 2 after a short illness. Mrs. DeCoursey of Sunnyvale had just celebrated her 80th birthday.

Born in Springfield, Ill., Mrs. DeCoursey grew up in Webster Grove, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis. Though her education did not go beyond high school, Mrs. DeCoursey acquired skills in a wide range of activities, from sewing to playing the piano and mastery of the Macintosh computer.

Long before it became readily accepted for a woman to work, Mrs. DeCoursey distinguished herself in a number of positions, from switchboard operator and librarian to an accomplished building materials salesperson.

“Helen was a star,” said Margaret Caesar, a former Town Crier classified employee and longtime friend of Mrs. DeCoursey. “She was an intelligent woman who was a math genius. She was an accomplished pianist, a seamstress - she was good at anything she tried to do. She was the most organized person I ever worked with.”

Married and divorced twice, Mrs. DeCoursey followed her first husband from Missouri out to Idaho. In the mid-1960s, not long after she migrated to California from Idaho, she took a job at the former Palo Alto Times newspaper. She spent the rest of her career as a classified advertising salesperson as that paper merged with the Peninsula Times Tribune in 1978. After the Tribune closed in 1993, Mrs. DeCoursey joined the Town Crier and worked at the paper until a few days before her death.

“Helen got what she wanted,” said Susan Glaze, Town Crier advertising manager. “She worked for the rest of her life. She didn’t want to go into a rest home.”

“We always had such a good camaraderie,” said Diane Lillybridge, an estate sales businessperson for whom Mrs. DeCoursey created ads. “I would call and she would say, ‘Two minutes to 12 (noon, the Friday deadline for classified advertising), it must be you,’” Lillybridge said. “I would say, ‘Helen, just do it.’ She understood me implicitly and would just go with it (making the ad).”

According to close friends, Mrs. DeCoursey fooled more than a few people with what came across as cranky behavior, but actually proved to be cutting humor. She was famous among people who knew her for her array of axioms: “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” “Stay out of the bars” and “God takes care of drunks and fools.”

Mrs. DeCoursey was highly committed to her activities at the Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto. She spent 10 years transcribing and organizing a series of lectures by Robert Roe on the life of David, according to her only son, Lewis Gray.

“She was active in trying to implement her faith,” Gray said. “She spent most of her volunteer time helping people with decisions about pregnancy.”

Though confident and social, Mrs. DeCoursey preferred to stay away from parties and instead spent her spare time watching old movies with a few friends. Gray said she kept her collection of more than 300 videotapes organized by the title of the film, in alphabetical order.

“She loved old movies,” said friend and former co-worker Marie Hardin. “We used to take lots of trips together. She loved to drive and look at beautiful scenery, the beautiful homes.”

Gray said his mother was “a model of openness and honesty.” He said her license plate frame carried the words, “You are important,” and a reference to Psalm 139. Gray cited verses 13 and 14 as particularly appropriate for his mother: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Mrs. DeCoursey is survived by her son and a sister, Elizabeth Logan of Omaha, Neb. Services were held Tuesday at the Peninsula Bible Church.