Hitchcock, Helen Hull Helen Hull Hitchcock died suddenly on Monday October 20, 2014 and fortified with the Sacraments of Holy Mother Church. Beloved wife of James Hitchcock. Beloved mother of Alexandra Kassing (Don) of Summerville, S.C.; Consuelo Hitchcock of Washington, D.C.; Hilary Hitchcock of St. Louis, and Louisa Spampinato (Rob) of Brooklyn, N.Y. Beloved grandmother of Francesca, Anna-Noelle, Amelia, and Dominic Kassing and Bruno and Pascal Spampinato. Beloved sister of Thomas K. and Connie L. Hull. Beloved sister-in-law, aunt and cousin. Helen was born in Phillipsburg, KS, August 19, 1939, the daughter of Downer Lee Hull and Thelma Kelly Hull. Her father was a school superintendent, and the family lived in several small Kansas towns. She attended high school in Woodston, KS., where the family also farmed. Her mother became an accomplished painter and her father an accomplished photographer, their works often exhibited in local shows and galleries. Helen graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in art history but then had a career as an insurance underwriter in Kansas City, San Francisco, and New York. She met James in New York in 1966, and then they became engaged after the proverbial whirlwind courtship. They were married at the Old Cathedral, shortly after he began teaching at St. Louis University. For a time Helen worked at the St. Louis Art Museum. Besides raising a family Helen was herself an accomplished artist, a musician, and an avid gardener. She and her husband, who lived in the same house for 47 years, were pioneers in the long-term process by which the Central West End was transformed into a highly stable and desirable neighborhood. Helen had been raised a Methodist, became an Episcopalian, was active briefly in the Anglican Catholic Church, and became a Roman Catholic in 1986. Early on she became interested in religious issues and was a founder and president of two organizations - Women for Faith and Family and Adoremus Society for the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy. She edited two journals Voices and Adormus - and two books - The Politics of Prayer and the Adoremus Hymnal. She published widely. Her work attracted a good deal of national and international attention. She met Pope St. John Paul II several times and also met the future Pope Benedict XVI. Services: The Funeral Mass will be celebrated at St .Roch Catholic Church, Waterman at Rosedale on Monday, October 27 at 10 a.m. Interment Calvary Cemetery. Donations in her memory may be made to St. Roch Church or RosatiKain High School. The family will receive friends at THE LUPTON CHAPEL 7233 Delmar Blvd., University City on Sunday from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m.

Published in St. Louis Post-Dispatch from Oct. 24 to Oct. 26, 2014.