Saturday, November 14, 2026
Helen Hunter has spent much of her life making sure children in Inwood felt safe, supported and loved. After more than five decades working with Head Start, the longtime educator was recognized at St. John’s Church of Inwood’s Generational Faith & Legacy Gala on Oct. 24.
Hunter, 86, received the church’s Generational Service Award for a lifetime of service to children, families and neighbors. The tribute also noted her three children, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. A lifelong Inwood resident, she graduated from Lawrence High School in 1959 and began volunteering with Head Start in 1969, when her daughter Patti was enrolled in the program.
At the time, Hunter said, she knew little about Head Start. As a single mother, she was encouraged to use the program’s childcare so she could work or continue her education. She soon discovered that the classroom offered something more.
“When I started working in the classroom with the children, oh, my God, that was amazing,” Hunter recalled. “Things just started coming to me automatically.”
She learned to develop curricula and work with children experiencing behavioral challenges. Her work also connected her with the Five Towns Community Center.
The center offered programs for seniors and teenagers, after-school activities and resources for parents. Hunter said she learned things she never imagined she would and found purpose in helping families access opportunities.
Her career with Head Start spanned 43 years before she retired in 2011. But the program soon asked her to return, and she agreed. For another 14 years, she continued working with children before retiring again in 2025.
“I thought the journey of Head Start was over, but it wasn’t,” Hunter said. “They came right back and asked me, ‘Could you please come back?’ So I went back.”
Her dedication extended beyond the classroom. Hunter’s daughter, Patti Ann Hunter, described growing up in a home that was often open to children who needed extra care and stability. In a tribute for the gala, she recalled sleepovers and children coming in and out, and her mother’s instinct to help.
“My first lesson wasn’t just sharing toys,” Patti Ann wrote. “It was learning to share my mother.”
She remembered children who had few belongings and others facing difficult circumstances at home. Her mother made room for them and treated them with affection. Some later returned as adults to thank Hunter, including one who had been separated from the family for 17 years and eventually found her way back to the Inwood home.
“Generations of kids, their kids, and even their kids’ kids have come back to thank her,” Patti Ann wrote.
Even after retiring from Head Start, Hunter has continued volunteering. She visits a nursing home daily, helping residents and spending time with her partner, who also lives there. She prefers to volunteer rather than take a paid position.
“That’s my golden life,” Hunter said. “To help where I’m needed.”
The recognition at St. John’s was especially meaningful to Hunter, who said she was baptized at the church when she was 13.
“I couldn’t believe this,” she said. “This is something like you dream about.”
Patti Ann, who lives in Florida, said her mother’s example shaped the way she gives to others, from teaching fitness classes for seniors to performing at assisted-living and memory-care facilities and fostering animals.
“Mom, I’m so proud of you,” she wrote. “You didn’t have it easy, but you gave so much of yourself to people so that their lives would be easy.”
