Helen Montgomery Birchfield, 93, of Andrews died Thursday, June 23, 2016. Helen was born in McCrory, Arkansas, on September 23, 1922, to Smith Montgomery and Willie Juanita Ramsey Montgomery, and was one of seven children. She attended McCrory High School and played on the varsity basketball team.

Helen met and married Harold Birchfield after he moved with his brother, Wray, to Arkansas from the mountains of Western North Carolina to work with his mother at a general store in Grubbs, Arkansas. Harold’s sister, Beatrice Birchfield, played on the basketball team with Helen and introduced the couple, who married in November of 1939. Helen introduced her first cousin, Leon Wallace Pugh, to Beatrice and they later married and both couples moved back to the mountains and lived in Andrews.

The two couples later moved to Florida to find work, but eventually returned to the mountains after the Depression. Helen and Harold raised eleven children below Tatham Gap, at the foot of Robbinsville Mountain.

Helen Birchfield was a pioneer woman who was raised in the vast cotton fields of Arkansas and later conquered the rugged life of the Appalachian Mountains. She was a strong-willed woman who worked from daylight till dark to feed her children. She raised her children with the same enduring work ethics and passed on her compassion for people.

When the youngest of eleven children was in elementary school, she took a job with District Memorial Hospital in the kitchen in 1976 and worked there until it closed. Helen continued to work as a cafeteria substitute with the Cherokee County Schools until she completely retired at the age of 86.

Helen was a member of two square dance clubs, The Almond Twirlers and The Blairsville Moonshiners, and danced with those groups for many years. Her interests were in traveling with her children and attending oil painting classed through Tri-County Community College.

In addition to her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by three brothers; two infant sisters; and a grandson, Dr. John C. Marr.

Surviving are seven daughters, Joyce Stover and James of Andrews, Gaynell Owens and Lamar of Cedartown, Georgia, Carmen Moore and Harry, Patricia Francis and Keith, Charlotte Johnson and Mark, Elizabeth Welch and Kenny, and Wendy Adams and Tim, all of Andrews; four sons, Jerry Birchfield and Louise of Andrews, Jimmy Birchfield and Karen of Monroe, North Carolina, Lynn Birchfield and Jane, and Lewis Wade Birchfield, all of Andrews; a brother, Fred Montgomery of Wynn, Arkansas; two nieces, Kandy Barnard and Peggy Yon, both of Andrews; 17 grandchildren, 30 great grandchildren, and seven great-great grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews who live in other states.

Funeral services will be held at 3:00 PM Sunday, June 26, 2016 in the Andrews United Methodist Church, where she was a member, with the Rev. Mary Brown officiating. The interment will be in Valleytown Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Christopher and Anthony Marr, Rusty Stover, Heath Owens, Marc Mainguy, and James Bryan. Tommy Ramsey and Michael Yon will serve as honorary pallbearers.

The family will receive friends from 1-2:45 Sunday afternoon at the Andrews United Methodist Church prior to the services.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made in memory of Helen Birchfield to the Andrews United Methodist Church Building Fund, PO Box 1310, Andrews, NC 28901 or Valley River Humane Society, PO Box 658, Murphy, NC 28906.

Ivie Funeral Home, Andrews in charge of all arrangements.