Helen Josefa Castillo Ayachi Obituary (1941 - 2023)

Helen Josefa Castillo Ayachi, 81, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday morning, June 25, 2023. Helen, a proud "Born On the Island" BOI, began her life on December 16, 1941. She was the first-born daughter of Teodora Mireles of Monclova, Mexico and Federico Canales Castillo of San Antonio and the eldest of six children. Helen grew up on Galveston's vibrant East End, and her love of school was evident from an early age, as she demonstrated a keen intellectual curiosity and insatiable thirst for learning. At Ball High, Helen was a member of the drum-and-bugle corps and stayed on as the Tornettes transformed into the high-kicking dance troupe more famously known today, serving as Lieutenant and even traveling to New Orleans to perform at the Sugar Bowl festivities. At the age of seventeen, Helen graduated high school (1959) and went on to earn an Associate's degree from Alvin Junior College (1961). In 1963, she earned a BA in Social Studies and Spanish from Texas Woman's University. During the summer of 1966, Helen embarked on what would be a formative adventure abroad, traveling to Spain, where she completed a summer program at the Universidad de Valencia. While there, she explored the works of Cervantes and immersed herself in Spanish Language Phonetics, Intonation, and Linguistics. It was during this time that Helen developed a genuine appreciation for the simple daily quotidian routines, especially the wonderful Spanish breakfast - cafe con leche y pan tostado con mermelada de naranja. More than likely it was this unique adventure that ignited her lifelong enthusiasm for genuinely knowing and understanding other places and people. A true believer in the continuous pursuit of higher education, she would later earn her MA in Bilingual ESL Education from the University of Houston, Clear Lake (1976). In 1970, Helen put into motion the first of many acts that would help define her career, and her passion, as an educator - pioneering Galveston's first Early Childhood Bilingual Center, where she served as both Coordinator and Lead Teacher. Seizing an opportunity to increase the program's success, Helen took her staff to Harlem, New York, to acquire firsthand knowledge about existing Early Childhood multilingual programs, and then brought that awareness and insight back home to implement on the island. Over the next four decades, Helen impacted thousands of Galveston County families through her commitment to education. She taught Social Studies and Spanish at multiple Galveston schools - Alamo Elementary, Austin Middle School, Central Middle School, and Ball High School. Following her retirement from Galveston Independent School District, Helen continued to educate - teaching dual-credit courses at Alvin Community College/Manvel ISD, and Adult ESL at the College of the Mainland. In fact, some of those she taught would later grow up to have children of their own fortunate enough to have "Ms. Ayachi" as their teacher, too - a testament to Helen's lifetime dedication to teaching. Helen's classrooms were consistently substantive and designed to expose students to a multifaceted, enriching learning environment. Students in her Ball High Spanish classes, for example, which included first-year through native speakers, will attest to the fact that "Ms. Ayachi" did not just teach vocabulary and conjugations. Classroom engagement often involved recitation of poems, exploration of art and history, performance of plays and songs, in addition to maintaining a high academic standard. Year after year, "Ms. Ayachi" prepared and took students to compete in the National High School Spanish exams, and it was not uncommon for her students to sweep 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places across all Spanish language levels. It is an impossible task to articulate the panoply of effective ways Helen challenged and elevated her students - every single day presented a new opportunity to witness her creative, insightful and focused approach to making each of her students' education benefit them. Notorious for having high standards, "Ms. Ayachi" consistently pushed students to extend beyond their comfort zone and "go for it!" Her passion for education also extended beyond the walls of the classroom, and she was not content to sit idly by when something could be done to benefit another's education. During both her career and subsequent retirement, Helen was a community activist who devoted her time and energy to numerous organizations and causes. For years, she secured federal grants to fund Project ESCALATE, a program aimed at tutoring economically disadvantaged students on improving standardized-test taking skills. She also committed her time, resources, and wisdom to worthy causes including Catholic Charities, Friends of the Rosenberg and La Marque Libraries, Our Daily Bread, the AIDS Coalition of Coastal Texas, Cambodian Refugee Project, Southwest Texas Voter Registration Project, and American Association of Spanish and Portuguese Teachers. Over the years she received numerous awards and honors, including First President of the Galveston Association of Bilingual Education, League of United Latin American Citizens Council (LULAC) Distinguished Service Award, Galveston Evening Optimist Teacher Award, Personalities of the South Award, and Rotary Teacher of the Year Award. Helen had a deep and profound respect for cultures, languages, religions, and countries across several continents. She lived in places like Spain, Tunisia, and Turkey and explored others like Peru, Portugal, Bulgaria, and the Azorean Archipelago, making friends everywhere she went. She enjoyed chronicling her adventures, both in writing and in her well-known storytelling abilities, vividly capturing the beauty and wonder of her experiences in a way that inspired those around her towards cultural curiosity and world travel. Helen was an avid consumer of crossword puzzles, Sudoku, and thoroughly enjoyed dominating others in a good game of Sh'kubba or Scattergories. Yet she will be most remembered for her unique blend of empathy, her seriously sharp wit, her unquenchable thirst for knowledge, her service-oriented mindset, and her stalwart desire to help others achieve their educational goals. Helen has, quite literally, inspired thousands of others to become better versions of themselves. Helen is preceded in death by her parents and her brothers, Joe Castillo and Rudy Castillo. Helen is survived by her sister, Mary A. Castillo of Texas City, Ruben Castillo of Texas City, and Fred Castillo of The Woodlands. She is survived by her three children, Najet Alexa Ayachi; Ramzy Castillo Ayachi (Monica); Leila Castillo Ayachi (Robert); and their father Dr. Salah Ayachi. She is also survived by her adoring grandchildren, Lucilla Helen Cabrera, Alexander Ayachi, Mark Marusceac, and Ava Ayachi. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, July 2, 2023 at Carnes Funeral Home 3100 Gulf Fwy, Texas City 77591 from 2:00 pm-5:00 pm CST. Helen's wishes were to be cremated, and her family will honor her in a private ceremony. Her family would like to express their deepest gratitude to the wonderful medical staff at HCA Houston Healthcare Mainland Hospital. Helen was greatly comforted knowing that she was under the excellent care of her dear friend and neighbor of nearly forty years, Dr. Beverly Lewis. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to The Castillo Foundation (EIN 84-1680072), the private non-profit 501(c)(3) scholarship organization founded in her family's honor, which awards scholarships to graduating Galveston County High School students who attend two- or four-year college/university/vocational programs. https://donorbox.org/helen-castillo-ayachi-dedication-the-castillo-foundation To our mother, sister, aunt, cousin, colleague, neighbor, mentor, teacher, and friend, Helen: Bravissima for a life richly lived! !Arriba, Abajo, Al Centro, y Pa'Dentro!