Graveside services for Dr. Ruby Helm Herd will be held at 10:00 AM on Saturday, May 18, 2024, at Shiloh Cemetery in Corinth. Dr. Herd, retired president of El Centro Community College in Dallas, died Monday, May 6, 2024. She was 104 years old.
Bill DeBerry Funeral Directors of Denton is in charge of arrangements.


Ruby was born March 30, 1920, in Pilot Point, one of 13 children born to Ewell Ezra Helm and Della Mae Ellis Helm. She was the last surviving child of the large family and is survived by a long list of nieces and nephews. She married Guy Shelton Herd on December 27, 1942.

Dr. Herd spent a lifetime as a teacher and counselor, first in public schools across Texas, including Hereford, Itasca, Childress, Port Arthur, Fort Worth and Dallas, as well as Oak Ridge, Tennessee. She moved to Dallas public schools in 1950 and taught in the Dallas Independent School District until spring of 1967. She joined El Centro in the fall of 1968 and became division chairman of the Guided Studies program for students who lack basic educational skills. She became associate dean of instruction in 1972 and was named outstanding El Centro teacher for the 1971-72 school year. In 1973, she became dean of instruction at El Centro, responsible for the administration and supervision of the total instructional program, and was appointed president of the community college in January 1976. She retired August 31, 1981. She initiated a college-wide "Writing Across the Curriculum" project which is now considered a model program and she established the fine and performing arts as a major focus of the college.

Throughout her tenure, she was a consultant and speaker for a variety of education conferences, such as the League for Innovation Focus on Learning Conference at Newport Beach, California; developmental studies conference and the American Association of Community College convention in Atlanta, Georgia; and developmental studies workshops in Colorado, Kansas, and South Carolina.

Dr. Herd worked with the Southern Regional Education Board for minority students project and with Texas Education Agency Project Flame, a project to identify and train women administrators. She was a lifetime member of the NAACP and was president of the board of directors of the Dallas Council on Alcoholism. After retiring from El Centro, she was on the board of directors and director of administration for the Dance Theater of Harlem in New York from 1982 to 1989.

Dr. Herd earned a bachelor degree in elementary education at North Texas State University, now UNT, in 1939, a master of education and counseling degree in 1952, and her doctorate of education, counseling and personnel administration in 1968. UNT named her an outstanding alumna in counselor education in 1989.