Helen T. O''Leary Roy

Helen T. O’Leary Roy, 76 Rogue River, Oregon- Helen T. O’Leary Roy beloved wife, mother, grandmother and friend, passed away on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at Rogue Valley Medical Center after a month long hospitalization. She had been sick with a staph infection in her blood which at the time she thought was back pain from a previous car accident. Her daughter and dear friends were at her bedside. She was born in Worcester, Mass., to Timothy and Lily O’Leary. She was raised in Westboro and graduated Westboro High School in 1949, where she was class Vice President. She loved to tell stories about all of the fun, mischief, and laughter she shared with her sisters and friends during childhood. Throughout her youth, she enjoyed assisting her father in the family’s apple orchard such as driving the tractor, harvesting the fruit and taking it to market in Boston with him. She met the love of her life, Robert (Bob), while they were working in her father’s orchard. After high school, she worked at State Mutual Life Assurance Company until she and Bob, moved to Vermont to farm dairy cows for five years. Helen often said those years were the best outside of being a mother and grandmother. They moved to San Diego, California in 1959, where she worked for First National Savings Bank in La Jolla as a teller, assistant to payroll administrators, and an escrow officer. The National Association of Bank Women selected her as one of the scholastic top ten in American Institute of Banking Courses in the nation. She and her husband helped build Our Lady of the Light Catholic Church in Descanso, CA with many good friends and where her father was construction foreman. When a public access route to the beach was put alongside their home in Pacific Beach, they moved to San Marcos to raise beef and citrus and later moved to Valley Center for more acreage and avocados. They enjoyed country living in the hills and also became active in establishing a new parish. Helen worked as a teacher’s assistant at Valley Center Elementary School. Two years after Bob retired, they relocated to Rogue River, Oregon where they built their dream home in the forest, relished the slower pace of life, and became involved in another parish trying to build a church. Her friends and family knew her as a devoted wife, mother, and grammy. Helen was also known for her deep faith, her compassion, kindness, generosity and selflessness. An incredible cook, she loved experimenting with recipes and was an avid reader. She loved nature, science, and all things mathematical. She was preceded in death by her parents and her sister Patricia Morris of Sterling, Mass. Helen is survived by her husband, Bob, of 57 years; children Kathleen Roy Quiray of San Diego and Timothy Roy of Oregon; granddaughters, Meghan and Zoe; sister, Anne Kearney of Naples, NY; sister-in-law Bernadette (Roy) Dufresne of Leominster, MA; brothers-in-law Raymond Roy of Northboro, MA and Leonard Morris of Sterling, MA and many, many nieces, nephews, and friends. The welfare of her family was her greatest priority and concern even until her last days in the hospital. As her spirit left this earth, she took a little part of each of us who knew and loved her. Plans to honor Helen in San Diego and Westboro are pending. Her ashes will be interred this summer after a Funeral Mass at St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Westboro. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made in her honor to the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy or the Humane Society. She devoted many hours of prayer to the Divine Mercy and she found great joy in learning about and caring for animals.