Helen was born January 4th, 1940, in Adelaide, South Australia, oldest daughter of Gordon and Beryl Brown. Gordon was a young architect and had become involved in the Oxford Group so the whole family were part of MRA, and life was always interesting in outreach. Following High School Helen did a Honours Bachelor of Music in Melbourne and this was a time when the MRA centre at Armagh was very busy with initiatives in the port and the posting out to all University students of the booklet Ideology and Coexistence. When a fire destroyed the 13 thousand handwritten envelopes, she and friends rewrote them again.
Returning to Adelaide she taught for over three years in a large co-ed High School, all subjects including music. When Rajmohan Gandhi came to Australia, she responded to his call to come to India and joined 50 other young people – the invitation to ”teach what you know and learn what you don’t know”. After her marriage to Garfield Hayes, a New Zealand farmer, they enjoyed hosting the MRA homes and experiencing India which they had come to love. Then the time came to return to the farm responsibilities. They had 4 children and now 11 grandchildren and 37 years wonderful years on the farm able to use their home for people around the world. She was active in the church and community affairs such as Creative NZ. And now in retirement piano performance has continued to be a strong part of life.
