Pioneering aerospace engineer Helene Jones leaves legacy at New Hope
Helene Jones, a longtime friend of New Hope for Families, passed away on February 7, 2025. She made her first contribution to New Hope in 2013, when our agency was just two years old and operating out of two renovated single-family homes on West Second Street. Additional annual gifts followed. She eventually made an important and very personal decision to ensure that her generosity would outlive her by naming New Hope as a beneficiary in her will.
New Hope is grateful to acknowledge Helene’s loyal and impactful patronage. We invited Helene’s close friend and fellow adventurer Mary Girard to share the following tribute to this truly remarkable and bighearted person.
Helene Jones
1933–2025
To have known Helene Jones was to have a friend with an insatiable appetite for life and experiences. She was curious and creative and included her wide swath of friends in her daily life and annual adventures. Helene was quick-witted and enjoyed a good laugh over a cool glass of chardonnay.
Helene spent her formative years in Chicago, raised in the northwest-side neighborhood of Jefferson Park. After a few years of college at Northwestern University, Helene headed to the west coast and made her home in the Los Angeles area for much of her adult life.
Helene’s career was nontraditional for her time – she worked in the aerospace industry as an optical engineer. One of the lenses that Helene contributed to was on the first Apollo moon mission in 1969. She was a stand-out team member in a world dominated by men, yet she never seemed phased to be so successful in her chosen field. Helene enjoyed a long career in the aerospace industry and maintained the friends from her work-life well into retirement.
Helene’s love of travel was central to who she was as a human. She relished exposure to new cultures and outlooks. Being an accomplished photographer, her camera helped her capture all the unique places she visited. Helene had a special affinity for Africa, where she visited Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa for a total of 9 trips to the continent. Enjoying the connection to the beautiful savannahs with its elephants, wildebeests, lions, hippos and other wildlife brought much joy to Helene.
In the mid 1980s, having planned well, Helene retired in her early 60s and pulled up stakes in California to move to Bloomington, Indiana. She found Bloomington in a publication of great places to retire, bought a home, and never looked back.
Helene immersed herself in interesting groups and causes throughout her 30+ years in Bloomington. She was in the Bloomington Photography Club, the Bloomington Antiques Group, the southcentral Indiana Miniatures Club, and she continued to enjoy traveling with the (then) Monroe Bank investment group. These trips – often more than once a year – took her to wonderful sites in the United States and across the globe.
Helene’s sense of community in Bloomington was a blessing as she aged. Even when she moved from her home to an independent cottage at Belle Trace, Helene never lost her sense of confidence to be involved. Those of us lucky enough to be in her “friend family” were welcome to visit and stay with her and take part in all the activities she enjoyed.
Helene also loved her family deeply, visiting them in Chicago and California as much as possible. Her two grand-nephews Matthew and James were sources of great pride to Helene.
Helene Jones is the embodiment of a life well lived. She was lovely, smart, self-assured, compassionate, and creative. She was a loyal friend and always had time to listen. She is missed, but her ability to touch lives even today is her amazing legacy.
Mary Girard
2025
A bequest is an easy way to help create your philanthropic legacy. If you have included New Hope for Families in your estate plan, or would like information about how to do so, please let us know. Learn about some of the many ways you can create a legacy of support for New Hope for Families. You may also call Development Director Jim Olsen at (812) 334-9840 ext 105 for a no-obligation exploratory conversation.
For additional information, request a free copy of our Estate Planning Guide.
