Marian Helen (Swinea) Worthen

Marian Helen (Swinea) Worthen, a native and lifelong Texan, died on Saturday, March 15, 2025, at the age of 90 in Big Sandy. She was born January 20, 1935, in Montgomery to George Lindel Swinea and Mittie Chestina (Fullen) Swinea, the oldest of their four children. Helen’s mother died in childbirth when Helen was five years old.

Helen was married on August 2, 1953, in Conroe to James Robert “Bob” Worthen. They resided in Conroe with their six children until 1967 when the family moved to Big Sandy.

Helen lived a life of service to her father, brother, sister, husband and children from an early age that remained to the day of her death. Her passion was the success of her children. Helen, a lifelong Christian, helped teach her children to have a relationship with God from an early age.

Reading was an interest Helen maintained throughout her life and one she passed on to her children, along with a zeal for education. Helen, who never learned to drive, would be pleased when she returned home after being taken to town with her “two essentials” in hand, groceries and books. After her sons had graduated from high school, she attended Tyler Junior College and the University of Texas at Tyler where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in History and minor in Spanish in May 1989.

Helen is survived by son, Honorable James Thomas “Jim” Worthen (Laura) of Big Sandy, son Robert Wesley Worthen (Lisa) of Texarkana, son Perry Mark Worthen, Sr. (Nancy) of Big Sandy, Samuel Forrest Worthen of Big Sandy and daughter Sarah Abigail Worthen Wilson (Michael) of Big Sandy, five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by husband Bob, in 2005, daughter Mary Etta, in 1959, her parents, her brother Charles Warren Swinea and her sisters, Ada Elnora (Swinea) Hyde and Rosalie Swinea. We want to thank Carl and Daisy Cox for their assistance in caring for “Miss Helen” for the last ten years of her life.

Helen is buried in the family’s plot at the Hoover Cemetery, next to her husband of fifty-one years.