By Brooke Prescott, The Miami Herald
Thomas Edwin Helms, a 22-year Miami-Dade police officer and Homestead tree farmer, died Sunday evening at Baptist Hospital after battling stomach cancer for more than four years. He was 51.
“He was always doing good things for people without ever thinking about being repaid,” said his brother-in-law, Mike Marks.
Helms, who was an Eagle Scout, was born and raised in Pensacola. He graduated from Escambia High School and James H. Faulkner State Junior College in Alabama.
After graduating from Faulkner in 1972, Helms joined the Air Force. He was stationed at the Homestead Air Force Base from 1973 to 1977.
After leaving the service, he worked as a corrections officer before joining the Homestead police force, where he served for two years.
In 1982, he joined the Miami-Dade Police Department, and was promoted to sergeant in 1986.
He also returned to school in 1982 to study criminal justice, and earned a bachelor’s degree at Florida International University.
Helms met Barbara Curry, an emergency room nurse at the Homestead Hospital, and the couple married in 1986.
He was “unbelievably talented at everything” and enjoyed scuba diving, water skiing and bowling, Marks said. During his 22 years as a Miami-Dade police officer, Helms worked in several divisions including Agricultural Patrol and, most recently, Criminal Dumping Investigations Unit South.
Detective Jonas Sears worked with Helms in the department’s Intergovernmental Bureau for the past five years.
Sears recalled a night three years ago when they had just finished an undercover job, and Helms challenged a young investigator to a 40-yard race.
“Sure enough they raced. It depends on who you ask who was the winner because it was so close,” Sears said, adding that at the time Helms had been battling cancer for a year.
“What makes that stick out in my mind is that was the brightest moment of that day -- Sept. 11, 2001,” he said.
In addition to his wife, Helms is survived by daughter Jamie Albury; parents Lemuel and Katherine Helms; and sister Jean Marks.
A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. today at the First United Methodist Church, 622 N. Krome Ave., Homestead.