Helen Mildred Guthwin

Helen Mildred Guthwin, 95, passed away on May 21, 2015. She was born in Boston, MA on January 1, 1920 to the late Samuel and Anna Manitoff Levine. She was preceded in death by her husband, Hyman Guthwin and son Michael Guthwin.
For Helen, it was most important to make a contribution, to be useful. She volunteered to organize documents for a judge; she was part of a feed the homeless project and consistently supported numerous charities including a child in Guatemala for many years. Reflecting her many interests and passions, she sang with the Virginia Beach Chorale, participated in the SaiBaba Groups, the Society of Friends, ARE, as well as belonging to a synagogue at one time. In her early years, Helen sang with the City Center Opera Company and became more and more educated with graduate courses as she worked in the New York City Board of Education as a kindergarten teacher and then as a vocational counselor for disadvantaged teens.
All her life she was a curious and voracious leader and focused on developing spiritually. She will be dearly missed by her family and her many friends and companions in Virginia Beach who were devoted to and supported her in her declining years.
Seeing her great-grandsons, age 2.5 years and 7 months in video and photos in the last month of her life, among the few words she could utter, was “precious”.
Left to cherish her memory is her daughter, Judith Schachter and her husband, Jean-Pierre; son, David Guthwin; grandsons, Theodore, Michael, and Carl; great grandsons Vincent and Isak; and brother, Walter Berkman and his wife, Charlotte.
A memorial service will be held Monday, May 25, 2015 at 2:00PM at Altmeyer Funeral Home, 5792 Greenwich Rd., Virginia Beach. Condolences may be offered to the family at altmeyer.com.