Helen J McTavish

Helen J. McTavish, born and raised in Butte, Montana then a resident of Clayton, passed away Thursday, August 20, 2020. Affectionately referred to as “Babe” since her birth being the youngest of three. Helen was a longtime member of Clayton First United Methodist Church.

After graduating from Butte Public High School, she graduated from the St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing in Boise, Idaho. She then worked in the local hospitals in Butte before moving to Colorado where she received her bachelor degree from the University of Colorado after which she was the director of the practical nurse program for a local community college. She then returned to Montana to serve as the Director of the Montana Nurses Organization.

Then she decided to take a job with the Aramco Oil Company in Saudi Arabia where she spent nearly a decade of her career in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia nursing employees and at their behest travelled the world.

In the 1980s, she returned to Butte while she was working at the local hospital she and her sister Marjory opened their first bakery in Butte, MT to much success. This led them to stake their claim in Clayton, GA and they opened the McTavish’s Bakery in 1991 which served thousands of customers over the years.

Babe’s laugh filled up the room. Bringing joy to others was the hallmark of her personality. True to her Montanan roots, there were few things she enjoyed more than driving with the top down on her many convertables, red toe-nails, singing along with Kenny Rogers and the Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Helen was preceded in death by her parents, Neil and Trine McTavish, her older brother, Donald and older sister, Marjory.

She is survived by her younger brother, Neil and his wife Joyce, of Duluth, GA, their children, Ian (Brooke) and Derek (Holly); and younger sister, Linda and her husband Dennis Long of Arlington, VA, their children Nicholas and Katrine and many nieces and nephews.

Her cremated remains will be interred in Butte along side of her sister.

A memorial service will be held later this fall to celebrate her life.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Helen’s memory to the Clayton First United Methodist Church Apportionment Fund, P.O. Box 703, Clayton, GA 30525

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