Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY – Staff
Helen L. Guilford, 7th & 8th Grade Teacher, 1968-1969
Helen Lee Guilford (1931-2024)

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TAGS: Helen Lee Guilford, Helen L. Guilford, PMSS consolidated school teachers, The Pine Cone, Don Pott, Bowling Green State University, Moody Bible Institute, Fulton County Expositor, Eastern Kentucky University, Fulton County Expositor

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HELEN LEE GUILFORD Staff

7th & 8th Grade Teacher, 1968-1969

Helen Lee Guilford spent only a short time at Pine Mountain Settlement School, teaching seventh and eighth grade in 1968-1969. The following is a brief article, written by a student for the October 1968 issue of The Pine Cone, the School’s literary publication.

Miss Guilford (Interview by Don Pott)

Miss Guilford, who teaches seventh and eighth grades, was born at Wauseon, Ohio, near Toledo. She was raised on a small farm. Her parents are retired and live in Wauseon. She has two older brothers, Russell and Paul. Russell lives near Wauseon and is an electrician at Campbells’ Soup Company. Her brother Paul teaches Industrial Arts at Ohio Northern University.

Miss Guilford, who likes music, plays the marimbaphone and the cornet. She enjoys leather and woodwork for relaxation. 

When I asked if she liked to teach, she said, “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t do it.”

She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education from Bowling Green State University, Ohio; she also has a Master of Arts Degree from Eastern University. She is a graduate [sic] of Moody Bible Institute, Chicago. 

Miss Guilford has taught twelve years previously with experience in Ohio, Michigan, and Kentucky. 

During the time Miss Guilford was at Pine Mountain Settlement School, she was a close friend of Marilynn Van Der Vliet (b. 1935), a bookkeeper for PMSS from 1962 until March 1970. The two remained friends, often employed together at the same workplaces and in mission work abroad, until Miss Van Der Vliet passed away in 2023.

HELEN LEE GUILFORD: After Pine Mountain

The rest of Helen’s working life was spent in a variety of positions, as described in her obituary on findagrave.com:

[Helen] worked as “Girl Friday” at a lumber yard, she was an EMT and EMT Instructor, and she started an ambulance service in the mountains. She also was a coal miner, CCNO Supervisor, “Special Deputy” for Fulton County [Ohio], and a Fulton County Dispatcher. She worked for the Fulton County Expositor Newspaper for 34 years, during which she wrote a column for the paper called “Life’s Lessons,” which replaced her brother Russell’s column called “Of Man and God”. Helen’s heart and passion was in mission work. She went on at least 30 mission trips, often accompanied by teens and young adults. The trips included the locations of Ecuador, Nicaragua, Costa Rico, and Mexico.

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Helen was born on Christmas Day 1931 in Wauseon, Fulton County, Ohio, to parents Leah (Williams) Guilford and Harold Guilford. She had two older brothers, Russell Harold Guilford and Paul Guilford.

She majored in education at Bowling Green State University and Eastern Kentucky University, where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree, respectively. She also attended a missionary course at Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.

Helen Lee Guilford died in Wauseon on August 28, 2024, at the age of 92.

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Title	Helen Lee Guilford
Alt. Title	Miss Guilford ; Helen L. Guilford ; Helen Guilford ;
Identifier	https://pinemountainsettlement.net/?page_id=123229
Creator	Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY.
Alt. Creator	Ann Angel Eberhardt ; Helen Hayes Wykle ;
Subject Keyword	Helen Guilford, Helen Lee Guilford, PMSS consolidated school teachers, The Pine Cone, Don Pott, Bowling Green State University, Moody Bible Institute, Fulton County Expositor, Eastern Kentucky University, Fulton County Expositor
Subject LCSH	Guilford, Helen Lee,  — 1931-2024. Pine Mountain Settlement School (Pine Mountain, Ky.) — History. Harlan County (Ky.) — History. Education — Kentucky — Harlan County. Rural schools — Kentucky — History. Schools — Appalachian Region, Southern.
Date	2026-02-05 aae
Publisher	Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY.
Contributor	n/a
Type	Collections ; text ; image ;
Format	Original and copies of documents and correspondence in file folders in filing cabinet.
Source	Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
Language	English
Relation	Is related to: Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections, Series 09: BIOGRAPHY – Staff.
Coverage Temporal	1931 – 2024
Coverage Spatial	Pine Mountain, KY ; Harlan County, KY ; Wauseon, OH ; Bowling Green, OH ; Ohio ; Michigan ; Kentucky ; Marilynn Van Der Vliet, Fulton County, OH ; mission work in Ecuador, Nicaragua, Costa Rico, and Mexico ;
Rights	Any display, publication, or public use must credit the Pine Mountain Settlement School. Copyright retained by the creators of certain items in the collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Donor	n/a
Description	Core documents, correspondence, writings, and administrative papers of Helen Lee Guilford ; clippings, photographs, books by or about Helen Lee Guilford ;
Acquisition	n/d
Citation	“[Identification of Item],” [Collection Name] [Series Number, if applicable]. Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers. Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY.
Processed By	Helen Hayes Wykle ; Ann Angel Eberhardt ;
Last Updated
Sources	“Find a Grave Index”, FamilySearch (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/274177718/helen-l-guilford), Entry for Helen L Guilford. Accessed 06-Feb-2026. Internet resource. “PINE CONE October 1968.” Series 09: BIOGRAPHY. Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers. Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY. Internet resource.

See Also:
EDUCATION Community/Cooperative School
MARILYNN VAN DER VLIET Staff – Biography

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