BIRMINGHAM — Helen Fling, a former national Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) president and former missionary who spent nearly 25 years in Birmingham following her time on the missions field, died March 1 in Texas. She was 97.
“Helen was a very special lady,” Wanda S. Lee, executive director of national WMU, said.
Fling’s profession of faith at age 8 was just the beginning of her commitment to Christ. She married Baptist preacher Robert (Bob) Cobb Fling in 1934 at the age of 19. Fling attended Baylor University, but while raising their daughter she completed her degree via correspondence courses at East Texas State University.
The Flings also served with the former Southern Baptist Home Mission Board in New York and the former Foreign Mission Board in Munich, Germany.
Over the years, Fling served in several prominent WMU posts including recording secretary for national WMU, 1957–63; president of national WMU, 1963–69; and president of New York WMU, 1971–76.
In addition, Fling made history as the first woman to hold a Texas Baptist post when she was elected second vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas in 1967.
In the 1960s, she wrote two books that encouraged the advancement of missions, “Enlistment for Missions” and “Changes and Choices.”
In 1977, Fling moved to Birmingham and served on the national WMU staff as promotion coordinator for development of WMU work in “new work” areas.
After her husband’s death in 1982 and her retirement in 1984, Fling continued to be an active member of Mountain Brook Baptist Church.
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