Judith Beck Helm, Author & Historian

Judith Helm (1939-2019) must be credited with creating the first, and, so far, only comprehensive record of Tenleytown’s history, Tenleytown, DC: Country Village to into City Neighborhood, originally published in 1981. Her research was conducted at a time when there were still living a number of people with firsthand knowledge of Tenleytown’s early history and she interviewed many of them.

It was an extraordinary undertaking. Those of us who are currently researching local history know how time-consuming and often frustrating the process can be – even with the assistance of computers and on line maps, databases, building permits, census records, etc., tools that weren’t available in the late 1970s.

Hers is an awe inspiring achievement.

Helm was native of Washington, D.C., and lived in Tenleytown in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.   

After publishing her Tenleytown book, she earned a master of divinity degree from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg in 1985.  Helm then was ordained as the 24th woman pastor in the ELCA.

Helm served congregations in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.