Helen S SHILANSKY

12 DEC 1916 - 5 SEP 2016

• BIRTH: 12 DEC 1916, Bristol, Connecticut
• DEATH: 5 SEP 2016, North Woods Village memory care, South Bend, IN

INDEX

[N15298] Helen S. Banulis
Dec. 12, 1916 - Sept. 05, 2016
SOUTH BEND - SOUTH BEND, INDIANA - Helen (Shilansky) Banulis, the last of the Bristol, Connecticut Shilansky sisters, died peacefully Monday at North Woods Village memory care residence in South Bend. She was 99. She was born in Bristol, to John and Eva (Lankowski) Shilansky of Beech Street, the second of three daughters, whose families remained lovingly bonded through their entire lives. Helen left home to become a live-in housekeeper in Hartford when she was a young teenager and worked for decades in the pressrooms and at assembly benches for several Bristol companies, including New Departure ball bearings, Wallace Barnes springs and Ingraham clocks and watches. She also was a dedicated gardener, as the beauty of her flowers and the enormity of her juicy, red tomatoes attested. The tomato-growing contests with her father in the backyard of her home on Murray Road, where she lived for her entire married life, are legend in the family history book. She also was known for her fantastic dark chocolate brownies. Helen leaves son Brent of South Bend and his wife Carolyn (Pica); nephews, Ron (Sue) Kasper of Avon, Conn., and Peter (Sally) Banulis of Cherry Hill, N.J.; nieces, Helen (Kasper) Verkamp (Rick) of Cincinnati, Nancy (Dubicki) Kaufman (Mike) of San Marcos, Calif., Diane (Banulis) Lerz of Somers, Conn.; and Sheila (Banulis) Sequin (Tom) of Burlington, Conn.; and cousin, Stanley Kavan of Milford, Conn. She was preceded in death (December 12, 2001) by Tom, to whom she was married for more than 65 years; sisters Sophie (Erwin) Kasper and Eva (John) Dubicki; cousin Victor Kavan, and also scores of loving family and friends. She often questioned why she was chosen to live so many years beyond them, but the new friends she made at Hurwich Farms apartments and North Woods after she moved to South Bend in 2005 are happy she stuck around for all of her kind gestures, hugs and kisses she insisted on spreading around. People at Blackthorn Golf Club also remember Helen “caddying” for son Brent, hawking for lost balls though she was legally blind, and even pushing the riding cart when the battery went dead. This when she was 90!A Mass will be celebrated at 1 p.m. Tuesday, September 13, 2016 in St. Joseph Chapel at Holy Cross College, Notre Dame. Helen's final resting place will be at Saint Joseph Cemetery in Bristol beside husband Tom and next to her parents, her sisters and that eternally bonded extended Shilansky family. In lieu of flowers, friends are asked to help fulfill Helen's last wish: Be kind to one another, be generous with your hugs and especially show appreciation for the nurses and caretakers among us, whose tasks, all too often, are thankless ones. St. Joseph Funeral Home is assisting the family. Condolences may be made at www.sjfh.net. Published in South Bend Tribune on Sept. 11, 2016