Helen Thoburn

THOBURN, Helen. b. Union City, Pennsylvania, 17 June 1885; d. New York City, 3 February 1932. She served as the YWCA’s national publication secretary and later as a YWCA foreign secretary in China. On her return to the United States she took on responsibility for the YWCA’s international educational programme. She published Christian Citizenship for Girls (YWCA, 1914) and Studies in knowing Jesus Christ, for younger girls (New York: The Woman’s Press, 1919). She was the joint author, with Elizabeth Wilson* (1867-1957) of a hymn written for the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), which later became more widely known, ‘Father of Lights, in whom there is no shadow’*.   David...