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Helen Jane Shields    October 29,1923-November 13,2011
April 1968 New York Telephone  
Helen Jane Shields was born in Albany, New York on October 29th 1923 the fifth child of Martin Joseph Shields and Josephine (Moran) Shields. She never married and lived with her two bachelor brothers Tom & Martin Jr. and her Aunt Helen Moran at 118 Grove Ave. in Albany. Early in her career with the phone company Helen contracted tuberculosis and ended up spending a few years in a sanitarium until  the TB was arrested. Years latter her niece MaryAnn also contracted TB and it was arrested without a sanitarium.

Helen with her Grandmothers dog.

 Helen's High School picture
Killarney Ireland September 19th 1976 (Helen foremost and her sister Mary ) after Helen had won the NY Lottery (The other two ladies had also one a lottery and decided to go to Ireland)
     Helen sometimes regretted not striking out on her own. She lived with her Aunt Helen, and brothers Tom & Junnie (Martin) until they died. A product of a broken family during the Great Depression she lived with her Grandmother Mary Ann Kerwin and later her Aunt Helen, for whom she was named. She and her sister Mary (who was raised by nuns in a boarding school/orphanage) didn't see much of each other as children but became great friends almost inseparable latter in life. In latter years, they would go out together to shopping and lunch once a week and Mary would call her every morning to make sure she was alright since she lived alone. Not too early in the morning and sometimes it was interesting since Helen was losing her hearing and wouldn't get a hearing aid.
     When I would visit the Albany area she would insist on taking the family out to dinner, usually at the Butcher Block. She knew I liked Filet Mignon and although it was usually the most expensive thing on the menu. insisted on my ordering it. We would also occasionally go to the Gateway Dinner on Central Avenue for lunch or dinner. 
 
 I was in the Albany area and had stayed at Helen's house in May of 2011 for my mother's 84th Birthday. Helen was in good spirits and good health except for her blood condition , myelodysplastic syndrome . She was needing transfusions more often to bring her up from her lethargic anemic condition. She had tried chemotherapy but it had been expensive and had not done much for her. She was admitting she was starting to get tired of living alone and was considering moving into assisted living environment to be around people and lighten her domestic workload.
     On June 30, 2011 she came home and parked her car in the driveway. While she was getting out of the car it rolled down the driveway dragging her with it. (No one told me exactly how it happened since it was an automatic and should have been in park) The open drivers door hit the fire hydrant in front the house. Helen was hospitalized and spent the next 15 months in and out of hospitals, rehab and nursing homes. She never made it back to her home again. (One reason being she didn't have a bedroom or a bathroom on the main floor and really couldn't do stairs) She finally got tired of it and stopped taken her medications and getting blood transfusions.
     While in Memorial Hospital waiting to die after quitting her medications, she was watching some drama on TV and stated " I should have lived in California, they don't spend all their time cleaning their houses out there" Helen kept an immaculate house and read books much more than she watched TV, they just randomly turned it on and she left it on whatever station they had turned it on to. She and her roommate Debbie (whom she called Barbara, probably because that was her niece/god daughters name) were usually planning Helen's escape. She lasted too long on Hospice and they transferred her to a Nursing home to finish dying. She became a profound user of the phrases "I' don't know" and "There's nobody over there" randomly out of the blue. (I believe we always have a phrase or two we can't get out of our head for months at a time and are more apt to say them out loud as we age. One of my fathers was "This is ridiculous") 

On 11/13/11 at noon at The Good Samaritan Nursing Home, I kissed her forehead, told her I loved her and promised to be back shortly. She died at 12:20
Helen's School Pictures
Helen and her friends
"Insanity doesn't run in our family....it gallops." 
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