Helen L. Cooke, 65, social worker who helped feed thousands
Helen L. Cooke, 65, of Erdenheim, a teacher who during a second career supervised a program to feed as many as 5,000 Philadelphia seniors in their homes, died Tuesday, Jan. 5, after a long battle with oral cancer.
Helen L. Cooke, 65, of Erdenheim, a teacher who during a second career supervised a program to feed as many as 5,000 Philadelphia seniors in their homes, died Tuesday, Jan. 5, after a long battle with oral cancer.
Mrs. Cooke died at Keystone House, a hospice in Wyndmoor.
At the nonprofit Philadelphia Corp. for Aging (PCA), Mrs. Cooke was assistant director for health and nutrition services.
For most of her 25 years with the agency, she oversaw the delivery of in-home meals to the elderly as well as the hot lunches served at several dozen senior centers throughout Philadelphia.
Her duties included operating the agency's central distribution center in North Philadelphia, from which a staff of 50 packed and delivered meals.
In addition, her staff directed health education programs provided at senior centers across the city.
Earlier, Mrs. Cooke taught a combined fifth- and sixth-grade class at a parochial school in Trenton.
Born in Passaic, N.J., she was the youngest child of Ukrainian parents who had immigrated to the United States with two older children after surviving forced labor in a munitions factory in Nazi Germany.
Mrs. Cooke graduated from Trenton State College, now the College of New Jersey, then taught for two years before shifting to a career in social work with the elderly. Her first social-service job was with a small, private agency, working with Ukrainian immigrants in Philadelphia's Fairmount section.
She then became director of the Bensalem Senior Citizens Center in Bucks County, and from there moved to the staff of PCA.
Mrs. Cooke was married to Russell Cooke, an Inquirer Editorial Board member, now retired after 35 years. The couple had two children.
"My wife and I had a romance that began and - at least, in this life - ended on the same day: January 5th. In the 44 years between those dates, we were virtually inseparable," Cooke wrote in an email circulated to the Inquirer staff on Wednesday.
During the time she was working and raising children, Mrs. Cooke won a Rotary Foundation fellowship to spend a year studying health promotion at the University of Manchester in England.
The couple, with school-age son and daughter in tow, moved to a suburb in Cheshire. Mrs. Cooke earned the graduate degree that led to her being hired as a PCA health educator in 1990.
The trip to England was the second such overseas stint for Mrs. Cooke, who had gone to London in 1978 on leave from her senior center. She accompanied her husband while he studied at the London School of Economics.
Ever after, she expressed a fondness for England, its people, its tea, and its television shows.
Mrs. Cooke took a seasonal job as a sales assistant in the lingerie department of Harrods, the famous London department store, and stayed on into the spring.
"It was a great experience for her," said her husband. Harrods' prices were similar to those in the United States, but because of the exchange rate on the British pound at that time, the merchandise seemed twice as expensive.
"In the employee lunchroom, everyone would grab two chairs and put their feet up, they had been standing so long," Cooke said she told him.
Mrs. Cooke was devoted to her Ukrainian Catholic faith, worshipping at the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church in Melrose Park for three decades. She volunteered at church events before and during her illness.
When healthy, she enjoyed cycling and in-line skating along a converted rail line trail near Valley Forge. She also cherished long walks along the shore in Bradley Beach, N.J., where her extended family vacationed.
In leisure time at home, she loved sharing mysteries, puzzles, and beating her family at Scrabble.
In addition to her husband, Mrs. Cooke is survived by daughter Christina; son Jeremy; her mother, Anna Lapiczak; a sister; a brother; a niece; and two nephews.
A viewing is to be from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 8, at the John F. Murray Funeral Home, 1218 Bethlehem Pike, Flourtown. Services are to be at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 9, at the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church, 1206 Valley Rd., Melrose Park, Pa. 19027, with interment at St. Mary's Cemetery, Abington.
Donations may be made to the church at the address above or to the CatholicTV Network via http://www.catholictv.com/support.
610-313-8102