Helen Gertrude ROCHESTER

DENISON, Helen Gertrude (March 8, 1909 - February 21, 2000) Helen Denison passed away peacefully on Monday evening, February 21st, 2000, at St. Joseph's Health Centre, Sudbury. Helen (nee Rochester) was born in Aylmer, Quebec, in 1909. She was the eldest child of John Lorn Rochester and Gertrude Church (predeceased) and the loving sister of Lorn, a RCAF officer who died in Europe while on active service during the Second World War. Helen's early years were spent in Aylmer, and eventually the family moved across the river to Ottawa. After secondary school she studied nursing at the Montreal General Hospital. In 1930, Helen married Ronald Lewis MacLaren, also of Ottawa, and the two began a new life together in Sudbury. They were blessed with two daughters, Suzanne and Judith. Ronald passed away in 1959. During WWII, Helen was an active volunteer with the Red Cross, assisting with blood donor drives throughout Northern Ontario. During the late forties Helen managed the polio clinic for afflicted children. Following the war she helped "war Brides" adjust to life in Canada and she was employed as a social worker with the Children's Aid Society. Amongst her many other activities, Helen was proud to have begun Meals on Wheels service in Sudbury. From 1956 to 1973 Helen started up and ran Sudbury's first free blood transfusion service. In 1973, Helen retired from her position as director of the Sudbury Red Cross. That same year she married Robert Wylie Denison; it was a second marriage and a new beginning for them both. Together, they moved from Sudbury to a century-old home outside the city, in Naughton. Retirement suited Helen. The day after she retired, Helen began volunteering at the Sudbury Memorial Hospital (an institution she had helped to found). She also enjoyed swimming in Simon lake, weekly bridge parties with her girlfriends, tea parties, and travelling with her cousin Margaret Steele and other members of her family. At home and abroad she brought a "joie de vivre" and sense of fun to every activity. The Anglican Church gave Helen a liturgy and rituals she cherished, and her sense of spiritual presence within all of creation imbued her with a deep respect for personal and cultural diversity. She never relinquished her curiosity about the world and her compassion for all of humankind. Helen is survived and remembered with love by her husband Robert Denison, her daughters Suzanne Cotton and Judith Holmes and her grandson Dr. Michael Holmes. Resting at the Jackson & Barnard Funeral Home 233 Larch St. Sudbury Funeral service in the R. J. Barnard Chapel Saturday, February 26th, 2000 at 3 p.m. Cremation at the Park Lawn Crematorium Donations to the charity of choice would be appreciated. (Friends may call after 2 p.m. Saturday)