An Angel of Mercy flew home Thursday, March 16, 2006 after a three month illness.

Helen Coleman Smith, a retired Registered Nurse who served patients at Charleston General, Charleston Memorial, McMillan, Mountain State and St. Francis Hospitals, passed away at Riverside Nursing Home. She was 93.

One of the Kanawha Valley's first Registered Nurses, she was born to the late Myrtie Gillespie Coleman and L. A. "Lafe" Coleman of Dunbar.

Helen graduated from Union District High School and the McMillan Hospital School of Nursing. She was a loving and devoted wife and mother who worked at helping others as a nurse her entire adult life.

In her spare time, Helen enjoyed knitting sweaters for family and friends. Her nephews and nieces fondly remember her delicious chocolate cakes and cookies.

A long-time member of the Dunbar Presbyterian Church, Helen had been attending First Church United Methodist with her daughter, Sharon Kay.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Theodore Russell Smith, Sr. and her sons, Theodore "Teddy" and Richard "Ricky" Smith. Also preceding her in death were sisters, Josephine Parsons and Celestia Ellis and brother, Cecil, Robert and Howard Coleman.

Helen is survived by her daughter, Sharon Kay Woodall of Dunbar; sisters, Arline Coleman Pignato and her husband, Joseph of Dunbar, Elberta Coleman Fisher and her husband, William of Houston, Tx, and Roberta Coleman Childress and her husband Dr. Ross Childress of South Charleston; her sister-in-law, Lois Coleman of South Charleston; and by several nieces and nephews.

The funeral service will be conducted at 2 p.m. Monday, March 20, 2006, at Keller Funeral Home, Dunbar, with the Rev. Dr. Okey B. Harless officiating. Interment will follow in Tyler Mountain Memory Gardens at Cross Lanes.

Friends may call at Keller Funeral Home, Dunbar.