After a career as a teacher, principal, superintendent and university chair that lasted more than 60 years, and inspired countless African Americans and women, Helen Faison has taken her final sabbatical.
She died July 16, just three days after her 91st birthday. Hundreds filled Baptist Temple Church in Homewood for her funeral on July 20.
Though born in Homewood, Faison moved to Virginia in 1924 after her mother contracted tuberculosis. She returned eight years later, eventually enrolling at Westinghouse High School where she excelled, graduating in 1942.
Faison began her teaching career in 1950 at Fifth Avenue High School. She also worked as a counselor at Westinghouse. In 1968, she became the district’s first female, as well as its first African American, high school principal at Fifth Avenue High School in 1968.
Faison retired in 1993 and became a visiting education professor at Chatham University. She later became the education department’s chairwoman and was chosen as the director of the Pittsburgh Teachers Institute in 1999.
Almost immediately, she achieved another milestone, taking a leave of absence from the Institute to serve as the interim superintendent for the city school district following Dale Frederick’s resignation. She was the first African American to hold that position.
She was extremely professional, quiet, reserved and deliberate in her decision making,” said former school board member Mark Brentley. “Never raised her voice—she didn’t have to. She commanded that kind of respect—a true hero in public education. An amazing woman and an amazing career.”
She earned her bachelor’s, masters and doctoral degrees, all from the University of Pittsburgh, and after retiring from the district, returned to serve on the university’s board of trustees. She served as a member of the boards of visitors of Pitt’s education school and College of General Studies. The school honored her as a Legacy Laureate and with the Pitt African American Alumni Council’s Distinguished Alumnus Award. In 1993, Pitt established the Helen S. Faison Scholarship in the School of Education.
In 2004, the Pittsburgh Public Schools named its new elementary school in Homewood for Faison.
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