Helen S. Hawthorne's Obituary
Helen S. Hawthorne
May 22,1928 to May 9, 2017
Mrs. Helen Hawthorne passed away peacefully on May 9, 2017 from complications from Alzheimer's and stroke. Her daughter and son-in-law were at her bedside.
A lifelong resident of the area, Helen was fond of saying that she was born on the Loudoun County Parkway which was just a narrow, rutted dirt road back in 1928. She was raised on a family farm in Ryan, a small crossroads near Ashburn, by her parents Bertha and William Solomon with lots of warm and wonderful relatives nearby. Her sister, and best friend, Ruth were always close and shared conversations throughout their lives reminiscing about the fun they had growing up on the farm, the double dates they frequently went on together, and being roommates in a boarding house when they both went to work in Washington, DC.
After graduating as the valedictorian of her class at Leesburg High School in 1945, Helen headed to DC where she was employed by the Interstate Commerce Commission in the Bureau of Railroad Safety. Later she moved back to Loudoun working as an Administrative Assistant at the then newly constructed Dulles International Airport. Eventually, she retired from a small, boutique real estate firm in Leesburg where she worked as the office manager. In 1960, she and Harrison Hawthorne were married in Brussels, Belgium while he was in the Air Force and stationed in Europe. Harrison died in 2015, on the day after their 55th wedding anniversary.
Helen loved people and was known for always having a friendly smile for everyone. She spoke fondly of travels with her husband after they were married, and she especially enjoyed the two years she and her daughter spent in Iran with her husband when he was stationed there with the Air Force in the '70s.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to your favorite charity, smile at a stranger, and toast Helen's life with a Tom Collins which was her favorite cocktail.
Graveside services are presently planned for Monday May 22, 2017 at 11 am at the Union Cemetery, Leesburg, VA.
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