Helene, a respected and long term resident of the Cutter Drive Area in Watsonville, was born on September 1, 1937 and passed peacefully in her sleep on May15, 2011. After high school, she enrolled at St. Vincent’s College of Nursing in a three year residential program in Los Angeles and graduated as a Registered Nurse in 1958. Then followed by a two year employment at St. Vincent’s Medical Center, adjacent to the college. She worked as a charge nurse on the surgical floor. It was there that she met her husband, Tom, who was working as a medical assistant at the same hospital.
They were married on April 23, 1960. From 1960-1965 Helene received her operating room training and became Assistant Head Nurse – Operating Room at Palo Alto Stanford Medical Center where her first son, Kurt was born. From 1967-2009, she was employed at Watsonville Community Hospital as operating room staff nurse at all three location for 42 years until her retirement in February 2009.
The mother of three sons, Kurt (46), Scott (39), and Todd (34), her hobbies and interests were gardening, sewing, photography, and skiing. Helene lived life with integrity and intention. Helene will be greatly missed by all those who loved her.
“Jamie Collins, RN, shared a poem with me that I share now with you”
God has given me a place on earth, to be here for a while. I hope that as I’m passing through I will make someone smile. I want to make life easier for all the one I meet. I ask God for his blessing to the stranger on the street. I hope I’ll never fail a child if I can help somehow. I want to be as generous as my resources will allow. And when my life on earth is done, it will be my final plea: Let someone, somewhere that or say, “You made a difference to me