Helen Kearney Konen

Click HERE to view livestream service for Helen Kearney Konen

( Livestream was recorded on  Monday August 3,2026 )

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Helen Kearney Konen, a beloved mother, grandmother, mother-in-law, sister, aunt, cousin, cherished friend, and acting coach, passed away on July 23, 2026.

Helen was born in New York City in 1947 to John Gordon Kearney and Mary Elizabeth Kearney. She spent her early years in Little Neck with her parents and four siblings before moving to Charlotte, NC, which she would come to consider her lifelong home. Her family first lived next door to the Billy Graham dairy farm before settling in a house in town. The Kearney family grew, welcoming another four children in Charlotte. Helen’s dad, a aerospace engineer who worked on spacecraft for Apollo missions, always had a smile on his face and loved to sing; and as the eldest child, Helen helped her mother, a former teacher and woman of great faith, raise the growing family. Their house was full of music, love, laughter, art, creativity, spirit, and life.

She attended St. Ann’s Catholic School as a child and Our Lady of Mercy in high school, building a community of lifelong friends. In 1965, after Helen graduated from high school, her dad’s work brought the family to California, where she attended Orange Coast College. Helen was an incredible singer and vocalist with a God-given voice that was truly angelic, and at school she got to nourish her talent for both music and acting. It was at Orange Coast that Helen starred as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, a role she earned over another rising star, Diane Keaton. She went on to Cal State Long Beach, where she sang in their top choir program, crooning alongside two other budding musical talents, Karen and Richard Carpenter. She graduated with a Bachelor of Theater Arts. 

After college, Helen worked a variety of jobs, but her favorite had to be at the taco cart in Disneyland, where she served up fare surrounded by mariachi singers. A stunning beauty in the California sun, with long flat-ironed hair and her brilliant doe eyes, she was a sight to behold. Soon after, she met Michael Konen and moved with him to Quincy, Washington, where she would live for three decades. The confines of small-town life never quite suited Helen, but—always one to bring the arts wherever she went—she started a community theater group, working on musical and theater revues, and also using her talents as the go-to singer for the town’s weddings and celebrations.

It was in Quincy that Helen welcomed her two children, Leah Michele and Kimberly Elizabeth. She showered her children with unconditional love, filling their days with art, crafts, dance, music, and pretend play. She loved to let them raid her closet, dressing up in costumes and sashes, purses and oversized high heels. She was a warm and loving “Mommy,” cherishing every cuddle and moment and taking every opportunity to build them up with confidence and love and encourage them to be anything they wanted to be.

In 1998, she moved her family back to her beloved Charlotte, introducing her girls to the joys of the South, from cheesy grits and sweet tea to crepe myrtles and the gorgeous historical homes of Myers Park. In Charlotte, she brought into her life her third child, her Shih-Tzu, Lacey, who showered her with kisses and cuddles for sixteen-and-a-half years and turned her into a devoted animal lover.

After her children left home, she got the chance to once again focus on her love of acting, turning her more than thirty-five years of experience acting, directing, and writing into a career as a private coach. Helen didn’t seek out talent; she believed that everyone, from kids to adults, possessed it, and she made it her mission to nurture it, building up a community of actors and directing brilliant and often hilarious showcases that let each student truly shine. Through her work with the Carolina Film Community, she championed local filmmaking, while acting in a series of projects herself. As a result of her contributions, she was the inaugural recipient of the Blaine Miller Filmmaker of the Year Award.

Helen was beloved by her friends, from her childhood schoolmates to her children’s friends and families to her fellow actors and her “Monday Night All-Stars.” She always found a way to come through for those she loved, whether that meant inviting them out during a tough time, celebrating their accomplishments, or telling them just how beautiful they were, inside and out. She was genuine in every one of her compliments. She meant every word of praise and encouragement from the bottom of her heart.

But no one was more loved than her grandchildren. During the last six years of her life, Helen took on her most incredible role yet, that of “YaYa” to Eleanor and Mary Joyce. She showed them just how wonderful it is to embrace your own personality and always be yourself, no matter how silly that may be, and through annual visits and weekly FaceTimes, she could often be heard asking, “Are you cuckoo in your tutu?” while her granddaughters cackled with laughter.

Helen will always be remembered for her vibrance and zest for life, her stunning beauty, her brilliant acting and singing, and most of all, the love she gave to everyone who was lucky enough to know her. She was the world’s cheerleader and will only continue to encourage those she loves from above.

Helen was preceded in death by her parents, Gordon Kearney and Mary Kearney, and her beloved dog, Lacey, and grand-dog, Farley. She is survived by her devoted daughters and son-in-laws, Leah Konen and Thomas Johnson Jr. of Brooklyn, NY; and Kimberly Konen and Derrick Richmond of Durham, NC; as well as her two granddaughters, Eleanor and Mary Joyce; her eight siblings, and their partners, Eileen Kearney and Dan Koetting, Lori Kearney and Kevin O’Farrell, Joni Kearney, Neal Kearney, Tim Kearney, Nora Kearney-Johnson and Leroy Johnson, Kevin Kearney and Maria Ahedos, Chris Kearney; and many beloved nieces and nephews.

Helen was a force of joy, optimism and beauty and will live on in the hearts of all who loved her, but especially of her four beloved girls, her “pride and joy.”

There will be a visitation on Monday, August 3, 2026, at Hankins & Whittington Funeral Home in Charlotte, NC, at 11:00 AM, followed by a funeral service at noon and a burial immediately to follow at Evergreen Cemetery in Charlotte.

Memorial contributions may be made to Theater Charlotte.