Helen Louise Nay

Helen Louise Nay passed away peacefully in her sleep on March 12, 2024 at the home of her daughter and son-in-law in Miami.  Helen was born in Great Falls, Virginia on July 23, 1921 to Samuel and Mamie Jones.  She spent almost the first 40 years of her life in the Washington DC area.  She loved growing up in Georgetown and was basically raised by her mother as her father had a hard time holding jobs during the Depression.  She told us stories of her early life:  roller skating around the Washington Monument, being a latch key child while her mother worked two jobs,  enjoying the music of big bands in DC and dancing all night, and working at the Pentagon and Walter Reed Army Hospital during World War II.   She met her husband, Everett Nay, in a drug store and they married in Georgetown on June 1, 1946.  The newlyweds, along with Helen’s mother, moved to Maryland and had two girls, Anita and Bonnie.  In 1959, the family moved to Jacksonville, Florida, and Helen was a stay at home mom, raising her children and taking care of her mother.  Everett’s job required a lot of travel, and Helen was often seen cutting the yard and taking care of many household chores, all the while helping her girls with their homework, attending PTA and Girl Scout meetings, and volunteering at the hospital as a “Candy Striper”.  In 1969, following a job transfer, Helen, Everett and Bonnie moved to Richmond, Virginia for a few years, then to Miami in 1972.  While in Miami she worked ten years at Miami Children’s Hospital in the fund raising department.  She and Everett stayed in Miami until 2000, when they moved to Jacksonville to be closer to Anita and her family.  Helen and her family loved to travel and took many trips around the United States and to Europe.  She enjoyed cruising, and even a week before her death, she talked of taking another cruise.  She sailed many times to the Caribbean islands, and took two European cruises in her 90’s.  

Helen was a friend to all and kept her friends close to her.  She stayed in touch with her neighbors even as she moved from Jacksonville to Richmond to Miami.  She was outgoing and sociable—always ready for a party.  She liked to attribute her long life to having a glass of white wine every day.  She loved all types of music from Louis Armstrong to Robert Plant and knew the words to songs from all the decades.  She thought it was very important to be nice to everyone and expected the same:  she asked every server their name and greeted them when she saw them again, she said please and thank you to those that helped her, she was free with her compliments and praise.  But she was also fiercely independent and proud of what she accomplished, moving many times and raising her two daughters on her own at times.  She filled her home with warmth and kindness.  She loved her daughters and their families completely.  

Helen is survived by her two daughters:  Anita, and husband Mark, and their two children, son Timothy and his wife Ashley and granddaughter Emerson and daughter Melanie and her husband, Dustin and granddaughter Savannah, and her daughter, Bonnie and husband Ron, and his sons Ron Jr. and Darren and his wife Ruth and their sons Xavier and Sam.  She is also survived by her dear friend and “third daughter” Judy and her daughter Michelle and several grandnieces and grandnephews.   She is predeceased by her husband Everett and her siblings Nellie, Sam and Ralph.  

The family will receive friends at Stanfill Funeral Home at 10545 South Dixie Highway, Miami, Florida on Tuesday, March 19.  Visitation will be  at  10 AM, with a funeral service at 11 AM.  Burial will follow at Woodlawn South Cemetery at 11655 SW 117 Avenue, Miami, Florida.  Flowers are welcome or memorial contributions can be made to a charity of your choice.  

To say that she will be missed is an understatement; she will be in our hearts forever.  We love you Mama.