Helen Cecile Beck Stafford, born in 1899, was a well-known community and civil rights advocate in Tacoma. She was the tenth of eleven children, her father being a former slave in Wamego, Kansas. After graduating from Kansas State University in 1920, she taught in Kansas schools and moved to Tacoma in 1926. Despite racial discrimination preventing her from teaching, Stafford became the first African American case worker for the Tacoma Department of Public Assistance.
Stafford was a leader in Tacoma, participating in many civic and cultural organizations. In 1927, she started the Matron’s Club, a group for young Black married mothers. She was instrumental in setting up the Tacoma chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the early 1930s, and served as its president.
Stafford’s community work included various organizations. She set up the first Pacific Northwest chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and the Tacoma chapter of The Links. She served on the board of the Tacoma Urban League, the YWCA, and the Tacoma Colored Woman’s Club. She was also an active member of the Allen AME Church, where she was the superintendent of Sunday School for many years.