IN MEMORIAM Helen Louise Starley (McEntire) Norton April 14, 1936-April 11, 2025 Born on April 14, 1936, in Salt Lake City, Utah, and raised in both Salt Lake and Ogden, Helen graduated from Ogden High School before pursuing architecture at the University of Utah. In 1959, she became the first woman to graduate with a degree in architecture from the university — a feat nearly unthinkable for a woman in Utah at the time. In 1973, she went even further, becoming the first woman in Utah to achieve architectural licensure through examination. In 1979, she became the first female president of the Utah Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Helen wasn’t just a first — she was the first, repeatedly. At a time when women were rarely seen in professional architecture, Helen stood firm, often as the only woman in the room — or on the jobsite. She once said, “I started wanting to do architecture when I was nine. I did everything I could do to go and do it. I think they just thought of me as the girl who could just do it.” And she did. After graduating, Helen served apprenticeships across Utah and Nevada, including with Dean Gustavson, VanFrank & Associates, and Cain Nelson Wares Architects. After licensure, she founded her own firm, and later partnered with Jerold Anderson. Her projects ranged from shopping centers and resorts to banks, mortuaries and retail developments. She was especially proud of her design for “The Oil Well” (now Jiffy Lube) in Provo, which challenged the masculine industrial aesthetic by creating a space thoughtfully designed with women in mind — rounded corners, soft colors, comfortable interiors and thoughtful landscaping. Helen’s career also flourished nationally and internationally. In the 1980s, she practiced in Chicago and Hawaii, where she also taught at the University of Hawaii’s School of Architecture. Her projects included Price Waterhouse Corporate Offices and the Ala Moana Pacific Center. In the 1990s and 2000s, she became a corporate architect and consultant in Australia and New Zealand, eventually founding Corporate Kaleidoscope, where she specialized in brand continuity, color, Feng Shui and design strategy for major international clients. Despite the obstacles, Helen didn’t dwell on discrimination — she just got to work. “Five gals finally came up and wanted to do what I was doing. I worked with them all,” she said, modestly, of the next generation of women architects in Utah. But make no mistake: Helen helped pave the way. She was one of only five women in the U.S. selected for the National AIA Women in Architecture Task Force, and testified before Congress on design and contracting standards. Helen’s legacy is built not only in concrete and glass, but in the doors she opened and the lives she touched. She was, and will remain, the girl who got it done. Being the first to do anything takes a rare kind of moxie. Helen Louise Starley (McEntire) Norton had it in abundance. A pioneering architect, devoted mentor and lifelong advocate for design that welcomed everyone, Helen broke barriers with quiet determination and trailblazing success. She passed away on April 11, 2025, in Scottsdale, Arizona — just three days shy of her 89th birthday — leaving behind a legacy as bold and enduring as the buildings she designed. 28 REFLEXION
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