Helen Clendenin

Mary Helen Clendenin peacefully passed from this life to her next on September 7, 2025. She was born on May 20, 1946 in Long Beach, California and made her way to Norfolk, Virginia where she graduated from Granby High School and Old Dominion University.

 

She was a teacher, worked in guest relations for several resorts, and retired after a career in physician recruitment and community relations at several hospitals. She was active throughout her life, as a lifeguard while a teenager, playing adult rec league soccer and running marathons in her 40s, and walking five miles many days during the last decades of her life.

 

Helen volunteered often and was committed to keeping her community clean. She loved her time as a docent at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk where she took her son’s second grade class on tours and dazzled them with stories from Greek mythology. She was an active member of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Sierra Club and picked up trash all across Virginia.

 

Helen made the most of the last season of her life as she faced health challenges with bright smiles, colorful outfits, and tremendous warmth. She enjoyed peaches, peanut butter, dark chocolate, and cosmic brownies with abandon as well as her son’s ability to give her everything she needed and loved, especially time with him.

 

She is missed by many, including her son, Braxton Hill, grandchildren, siblings, nieces and nephews, in-laws, friends, and neighbors. All find comfort knowing that she now enjoys time with her daughter, Austin, brother Jym, and parents, Lane and Marguerite.

 

Helen and her family are grateful for her hospice caregivers, who provided equal parts love and comfort care with every visit, and everyone who visited or reached out in 2025. In lieu of flowers, please consider picking up trash at a beach or a donation to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

 

Know that Helen is smiling whenever you enjoy an easy morning with coffee and a newspaper, a nice walk outside, or the satisfaction of putting litter in its place.