Helen Statler Conn passed away peacefully on October 30, 2008 surrounded by her family. She was born December 20, 1910 in Elk City, Oklahoma to Claude and Iva Ellegood. She moved to Lawton, Oklahoma in 1916 where she attended local schools including Cameron College. She became one of the first female pilots in Oklahoma and even flew with Amelia Earhart. During the Great Depression she worked for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) on local projects including "Lake Helen." Helen and James J. Statler were married in May of 1937 in El Reno, Oklahoma and moved to Ada. Later they moved to Calgary, Alberta, Canada where she worked in and headed many charitable organizations including Easter Seals and the Symphony Guild. After Jim retired in 1967, they returned to Ada, where they were members of First Presbyterian Church. Later, as a widow, she married her life long friend Jack T. Conn in 1985 and moved to Oklahoma City. At his death she moved to Colorado Springs to be closer to her daughter. Helen had a lifelong love of adventure and travel. At the age of 84 she went on a camel safari at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro and recently went dog sledding in Alaska.
Helen was an inspiration to all who knew her. She was beautiful to the core, an embodiment of all that is good in this world. Her grace was tempered only by her fiery determination to protect and to better those that she cared about, and, she cared about so many. A quintessential matriarch, her love had no bounds. Children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, sister, brothers, nephews, nieces, friends, employees, and sometimes even strangers were among her brood. She was a mother-figure to countless through her life.
She was preceded in death by her first husband James J. Statler, her second husband Jack T. Conn, her sister Florence Wade and her brothers Richard and Don Ellegood. She is survived by her daughter Jimmy Sue Guggenhime, her sister Francis Griffin, her granddaughter Kristin Wellens and husband Brian, her grandson David Guggenhime, her great grandchildren Jacob Guggenhime and Garrett Statler Wellens and numerous beloved nieces and nephews.
Graveside services will be held 11:00 a.m. Wednesday at Rosedale Cemetery in Ada, Rev. David McCann will officiate.
The family says those who wish may make memorials to: Feed the Children, P. O. Box 36, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73101.

Criswell Funeral Home, Ada