(L-R) South Miami City Commissioner Bob Welsh, Mayor Philip Stoddard, great-grandson Matthew Pelton, grandson Donald Wesley Pelton III, great-grandson Ben Pelton, South Miami Commissioner Walter Harris, City Manager Steven Alexander, President Chamber South and former Mayor Mary Scott Russell, City Clerk Maria M. Mendendez, SMPD Acting Chief Major René Landa, County Commission District 7 Aides Ela Pestano and Bobbie Alvarez, and Kelly Barkett of the city’s public works department.
Helen Miller Margolin had been a civic leader since she came to Miami in 1939. She lived in the City of South Miami for 54 years and operated Helen Miller Florist for 20 years. She died September 1997.
She served on the South Miami Chamber of Commerce Board for 36 years and was President in 1963. During her 36 years of the Board she held each of the other offices at least once. She served as Chair of the Beautification Committee for a number of years and worked with Councilman Ed Corley to start the first City of South Miami Beautification Program and the first city nursery.
She served as President and founding member of the Town Club of South Miami and while she was President of the Combined Women’s Clubs of Dade County she lead in the establishment of a shelter for abused women
and children.
She was President of the City of South Miami Personnel Board for over 15 year and served on the Charter Review Committee and the Planning Board.
She was founder of the South Miami Homeowner’s Association and Riviera Presbyterian Church, a member of the Altrusa International Service Club of Miami and Daughters of the War of 1812.
Listed in Who’s Who Women of America, Who’s Who Women of the South and South West, International Biographies and Archives at Oxford University.
