Helen B. Thomas

My loving Aunt Helen Thomas departed for her true home in eternity into the arms of Jesus, her Lord and Savior. Helen Bernice Thomas, born January 12, 1917 in Minersville, PA, died September 20, 2013 in Clayton, NJ at the home of her nephew and niece while under hospice care.

She is predeceased by her parents. Her father, Frank Leon Tansky was an immigrant from Poland (Russia occupied) to Minersville, PA and her mother, Joesphine Strenkoski, of Shamokin, PA. Her brother Francis (Fritz) Leon Tansky of Williamstown, NJ, passed March 16, 2013.

Helen married John E. Thomas of Philadelphia, PA on August 31, 1936, for 52 years until he passed on November 8, 1988, in Bradenton, Florida. There were no children born of the marriage.

She is survived by many loving family member including 4 nieces and nephews, 9 great nieces and nephews and 7 great-great-nieces and nephews.

My Aunt was born in Minersville, Pa. To Frank and Josephine Tansky and from Minersville moved to Shamokin, Pa with her brother Francis. Her father was a coal miner and mother a housewife. She and her brother were raised through the depression years and one of their many jobs was to pick coal from the hills for heating and cooking fuel for the house. They would load up their wagon with the coal, the miners would dump usable coal on the hillside for people to use for times were economically tough.

One story she told when she was in Catholic elementary school was quite funny.
A boy in her class kissed her and the Nun’s got all upset because they were leading the boy to be a priest. So she and her mother and the boy’s parents had a meeting with the Nun’s. It turned out that the boy said, he liked kissing girls, so she got out of trouble and the boy never became a priest. My Aunt said ,he was a good kisser but that’s all the interest she had in him.

My Aunt would Go to her Aunt Victoria’s house in the summer and help out with the babies, she said it was better than staying at home because of all the chores that her mother would have her do. So she laughed and said , I stuck my brother with all the chores, pretty smart she was quite a character.

My Aunt eventually moved in with her Aunt Victoria and got a job as a waitress, I believe this is when she met my Uncle John Thomas around 16 years of age. They fell in love and were married in Elkton, Maryland in 1936, she was 19 and my uncle was 23. They move to Frankford, Philadelphia area after they were married. During the courtship my aunt said she loved to dance and my uncle would take her to the dance hall every week in Minersville or Shamokin, she loved the song “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” for those of us old enough to remember, so their love blossomed and were married.

My aunt and uncle were quite the entrepreneurs when they purchased homes in the Philadelphia area they would turn the upper floors into apartments and sell them. In the year 1955 or 1956 my aunt and uncle moved to Bradenton ,Florida and they opened a fishing camp business where they rented boats , opened a bait and fishing tackle shop and my uncle who got his Captain’s page 1 of 3 license would charter his deep sea game fishing boat. They sold that business and move to Longboat Key when contractors started to build houses. Their house was one of the first to be built in approx 1963. The house was built on a canal street where boats could come in and dock at the back of the house. This was ideal for my uncle for he continued to charter his boat for game fishing, Longboat Key Bradenton Florida is on the Gulf of Mexico. My aunt at this time opened a laundromat and did housework for the elderly and did this until the 1970’s. My uncle and aunt sold the boat, laundromat and my aunt gave up housekeeping, then they opened up a booth at a flea market and together they made a good income. So you can see how busy their lives together had been. I can always remember my aunt and uncle with a dog. The names were Mitzi, Buttons, Sassy 1, 2, 3, 4. I thought it was quite comical when they named their last 4 dogs Sassy and my uncle was the culprit in this. He would bring the puppy home until my aunt fell in love with it ,he was pretty smart knowing she would not want to give it back.

My uncle died in 1988 in Florida at the age of 75 and was buried in Minersville, Pa. My aunt continued with the flea market for another 10 to 12 years and gave that up. She had made quite a few girlfriends and they would get together a few times a week and play cards, games and go out to dinner. Then one by one her friends started to pass away which left her with only a few friends. So her life had changed abruptly over the last few years.

Her brother Fritz became ill with lung cancer and she flew up to see him in February of 2013. The second day she was here in NJ she fell and broke her hip. She went through rehab and was back and forth to doctors and the hospital for the next 6 months until my wife and I had to have Compassionate Care (Hospice) come in to monitor her physical needs. This was very difficult on her at first because she lost all of her independence, she was now cared for when she always cared for others. She learned to love the Hospices nurses and aides and how they cared and were compassionate to her needs.

My wife took such very good care of her before Hospice came in, I don’t know what I would have done without her and my children. We all got to know her and love her as she loved us and through this circumstance, they were very happy to know her. She loved how my children would hug, kiss her, take care of her needs and tease her. She could take a good teasing and give it right back without missing a beat. She will always have a place in our hearts and for my brother and I she became our replacement mother when our parental mother died in 1979.

God gave us a blessing in my Aunt Helen and she received Christ as Lord and her Savior in her old age. She would read the bible every morning and was reading the Left Behind Series of books which she enjoyed before she passed away. God is good and although the circumstance of breaking her hip and the passing of her brother was not , God kept her alive all these years so that she could receive Him and be in eternity with her family. I know that I and my family will see her again in eternity and she will be dancing with joy. So until we meet again then my loving aunt ask the Lord Jesus to keep us in His loving care. Your loving nephew – John

Relatives and friends are invited to attend her visitation Saturday 2:00 – 3:00 pm at the Egizi Funeral Home, 119 Ganttown Road, Washington Twp. Funeral Service 3:00 pm at the funeral home. Interment Saturday, October 1st 1:00 pm in Minersville, PA.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Helen’s memory to Compassion Care Hospice Foundation, 11 Independence Way, Newark, DE 19713. Condolences may be shared with the family at www.egizifuneral.com

“A Life Well Lived
Is Worth Remembering”