Arthur Henry ‘Art’ Helton Jr.
Businessman and Democratic politician who was mainstay in Harford was instrumental in forming county’s government
Arthur Henry “Art” Helton Jr., a longtime Harford County businessman and Democratic politician who shepherded in the county’s new government in the 1970s before becoming a state senator, died Nov. 24 at Lorien Bel Air after suffering injuries from a fall.
The longtime Harford resident, who moved from Swords Creek, Virginia, at 6 months old, was 85.
Remembered as a county mainstay who was rich with opinions and always brought his business knowledge to the table, Helton and his wife, Ann, resided in both Aberdeen and on a 9-acre farm in Darlington, where they raised chickens and a flock of Dorset sheep.
Mr. Helton was born in 1937 to Alma B. Helton, a homemaker, and Arthur Henry Helton Sr., a farmer who became a homebuilder and union leader for The Martin Company. The younger Mr. Helton participated in 4-H and trained as a livestock judge as a boy growing up in Harford County. He graduated from Bel Air High School in 1946 and received a bachelor’s degree in industrial management from the University of Baltimore four years later.
After graduating, Mr. Helton worked in a management position at a Western Auto in South Baltimore before purchasing a franchise store in Perry Hall, later adding stores in Havre de Grace and Aberdeen to his portfolio.
But Mr. Helton, who was involved with the Jaycees, quickly became interested in local politics.
He came close in a run for a state delegate seat in 1970 but two years later won the 2nd District seat on the newly established Harford County Council after being instrumental in the formation of the county’s charter government.
At the time, he was already president of the county’s Young Democrats organization and was a charter member of the Harford Democratic Club. He had also published a study of potential threats to the Deer Creek Watershed, leading to a bevy of legislative recommendations from his local Jaycees chapter.
A previous marriage ended in divorce. He met his second wife, the former Ann
Corderman, while living in Annapolis during sessions of the Maryland General Assembly after being elected as a state senator in 1975.
A mutual friend had introduced Mr. Helton to the dynamic then-employee of the Department of Human Resources. She also served on the Anne Arundel County Council and was former Baltimore County Executive Ted Venetoulis’ pick for lieutenant governor before losing his gubernatorial bid in 1978. The two married at their Havre de Grace home in 1982.
Mr. Helton’s career in Annapolis ended in 1983, though his love for “the negotiation” never ceased, his wife said — the former politician enjoyed using Facebook Marketplace in his later years, selling trinkets, such as those left behind by former tenants.
“Art saw the value in a lot of those things,” Ms. Helton said.
In addition to creating the New Harford County Democratic Club in an effort to ensure left-leaning candidates were active and viable in the county, Mr. Helton and his wife owned several businesses in the county and managed multiple properties, repurposing many commercial real estate locations in Aberdeen. He won the Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce’s first Golden Eagle Award for his revitalization efforts, such as the municipality’s former Moose Lodge and Acme grocery store. He also ran to return to the state Senate in 2014 but was defeated in the Democratic primary by Mary-Dulany James of Havre de Grace.
Mr. Helton was also involved with the Webster Congregational Christian, where he brought his business knowledge to a role as a trustee, as well as the local NAACP, the Harford Land Trust and the Maryland Farm Bureau.
Mr. Helton was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, James; a son, Art Helton III; and a grandson, Christopher Belcher. In addition to his wife, Mr. Helton is survived by his sister, Kathleen; children, Connie Helton, of Bel Air, Kelly Gilkerson, of Pensacola, Florida, and Tracy Helton, of Swan Quarter, North Carolina; two stepdaughters, Laura Stockett of Beverly Beach and Leah Stockett of Brooklyn, New York; and several grandchildren, great-grandchildren and nephews.