SCARBOROUGH – Helen H. Stearns, 82, died Thursday, April 29. She had resided for the past two years at Piper Shores in Scarborough, and had been a patient at the nursing home there known as Holbrook.

She was born on June 10, 1921 to Hugh W. Hastings and Martha Fifield Hastings.

She grew up in Fryeburg and graduated from Fryeburg Academy and Westbrook Business College. After college she worked for the U.S. Government in Washingtom, D.C. returning to Fryeburg during World War II to serve as the legal secretary for her father and two brothers in the Hastings & Son Law office until 1967.

She was a Past Matron of the Eastern Star and active in the Business and Professional Women’s Club.

She married Burton J. Stearns of Lovell in 1958. After she retired, Burton and Helen spent many happy years in Lovell during the summer and winters at their condominium in Panama City Beach, Fla. Both were avid outdoors people who enjoyed canoeing, fishing, and just being out on the lakes and in the forest.

She was deeply devoted to her husband who died in 1990 and to his two children B. Dean Stearns and his wife of Lovell and Nancy M. Pitman and her late husband, Glenn of Cornish as well as to their eight children.

While in Panama City Beach, she was active and a regular volunteer at Bay Medical Center. She received the Panama City Hospitl’s Outstanding Volunteer of the Year Award. In Lovell, she remained active with the church and the Charlotte Hobbs Library.

In addition to her stepchildren and stepgrandchildren, she is survived by three brothers, David R. Hastings II, Hugh W. Hastings II, and Peter G. Hastings all of Fryeburg; two sisters Jane H. Folsom and Mary H. Dunas both of Alfred; as well as 21 nephews and nieces.

She was predeceased by brother, Edward E. Hastings II.