Fred Bryan Helms

Background

Helms, Fred Bryan was born on April 12, 1896 in Union County, North Carolina, United States. Son of Emanuel M. and Frances P. (Austin) Helms.

Education

University of Georgia. Wake Forest College (Bachelor of Laws, 1922). Columbia University. President, The North Carolina State Bar, 1946-1947.

Career

Teacher public schools, Union County, 1914-1915. Manager chain clothing stores Athens, Georgia, East Moline, Illinois, Muscatine, Iowa, 1919-1922. Since practiced in Charlotte.

Prosecuting attorney City of Charlotte, 1925-1927. County judge Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, 1927-1931. Private practice, specializing in civil law, from 1931.

Partner firm Smith Helms Mulliss & Moore and predecessors, retired.

Achievements

• Bar: North Carolina 1922.

Membership

Organizer, 1st president Charlotte Community Chest (now United Way), 1932-1933. Chairman Citizens Committee, 1941-1945. Member Commission to Study and Revise Insurance Laws North Carolina, 1945-1947, Commission for Improvement Administration of Justice in North Carolina, 1947-1949, North Carolina Judicial Council, North Carolina Governor's advisory commission on segregation, National Commission Reform Federal Criminal Laws.

Past trustee Wingate College Presidential elector North Carolina, 1956. Organizer, attorney, commissioner Charlotte Memorial Hospital Authority. Served as Second lieutenant, Field Artillery United States Army, 1918-1919.

Fellow American College Trial Lawyers. Member American Society International Law, American Bar Association, North Carolina State Bar (vice president 1944-1946, president 1946-1947), North Carolina Bar Association (inducted into General Practice Hall of Fame 1991), Mecklenburg County Bar Association, American Judicature Society, American Law Institute, American Legion, City Club, Charlotte Country Club, Kiwanis.

Connections

Married Margaret V. Harrelson, July 14, 1927 (deceased). Children: Margaret Harrelson (Mistress Joseph B. Tyson), Frances (Mistress Frances H. Abernathy). Married Susan Erwin Williamson, March 3, 1978 (divorced January 1994).

Father:

Emanuel M. Helms

Mother:

Frances P. (Austin) Helms

Spouse:

Margaret V. Harrelson

Spouse:

Susan Erwin Williamson

child:

Margaret Harrelson Helms (Mistress Joseph B. Tyson)

child:

Frances Helms (Mistress Frances H. Abernathy)