Dr. Helen Chavis Othow was an educator, a genealogist, an author and a longtime leader in civic affairs in her native Granville County. She also was a wife, a sister and a mother.
Othow died on Jan. 1, 2022 at the age of 89.
Mark Pace and Bill Harris remembered the life and work of Othow to kick off a new segment of The Local Skinny! called Around Old Granville.
The Chavis family has ties to Granville County dating back to the 1700’s, Pace said, when Granville County encompassed most of what is present-day Vance, Granville, Franklin and Warren counties.
The founder of the John Chavis Society, Othow wrote a biography of Chavis, who Pace said was Othow’s 5-times great-grandfather. Chavis was a free Black man who was born in 1763. He became a Presbyterian minister and taught many children of prominent white families in the area. Othow produced in 1990 a genealogy of Chavis and his family, Pace said, and made several subsequent updates in the years since that original publication.
Although Othow moved away from the area to attend university and then continued in her marriage and career, “she always had a connection back to the county,” Pace said. It was important for her to contribute and to give back to Oxford, he added.
She taught at numerous universities through her career, including her alma mater, St. Augustine’s in Raleigh from 1984-1996.
Othow is survived by her daughter, Ojulo Othow Norman, a grandson, Collis Norman and her brother, Dr. Benjamin Chavis, former president of the NAACP.
She is buried in the Chavis family cemetery outside Oxford.
Have an idea for a story for an Around Old Granville segment? Contact Bill Harris at WIZS 252.492.5594 or Mark Pace at Thornton Public Library at 919.693. 1121, extension 204.
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