Stephen Dean Helmer

Steve Helmer (Stephen Dean Helmer) passed away on December 1st at Oak Hill Manor in Ithaca where he had gone after hospital treatment.


Steve started life in Cleveland Ohio and throughout his life was interested in, and pursued many different endeavors. A few of his interests come to mind; as a young boy he developed a love of trains, when his family moved to Arizona he got a pony and loved riding, in high school he participated in school plays developing a life-long enjoyment of performing. After high school he enrolled in Pamona College in California and started out as a music major and music became another life-long activity. During his college career he switched majors every couple of years to pursue his curiosity about political science, urban planning, architecture and art history and when he married into an artistic family he took up watercolor painting.


Steve graduated from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois in 1966 and went on to earn a Masters degree from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. While a student at ASU he married Elizabeth (Liz) Barr whom he had met at Principia College. From Arizona he and Liz moved to Ithaca New York where Steve enrolled in the graduate program at Cornell University and received a Phd. in Art History in 1980. He worked in the College of Labor Relations at Cornell until 1996 when he became a professor of Art History at his Alma Mater, Principia College. After ten years as a professor Steve was a widower and decided to retire and pursue foster parenthood, an adventure with plenty of ups and downs.

In 2012 Steve made another change, moving back to Ithaca where he and Liz had lived for twenty-two years and where he had good friends and family. He filled his time singing in local choral groups including Cornell U. Chorale and Ithaca Voices, serving in his church including the church's Correctional Institutions Committee and pursuing his hobbies of posting commentary on movies and current events and playing raquet ball and other sports.


He is survived by his sister-in-law, Mary Ann Barr, of Danby, NY, sister-in-law Alice Ann Helmer, his niece Cynthia Chylinski and nephew, Charles Helmer.

Bangs Funeral Home of Ithaca is handling burial arrangements. A private memorial is being planned. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to First Church of Christ, Scientist, 101 University Ave., Ithaca NY 14850, The Christian Science Monitor, 210 Massachusetts Ave., Boston MA 02115, or Principia College, 1 Maybeck Place, Elsah, IL 62028-9720.