Dr. Helen Pappas, age 81 years, of Union Township, Hunterdon County, NJ, died peacefully on Sunday, August 9, 2020 at Hunterdon Care Center, Raritan Township, NJ.

Born February 20, 1939 in Wilkes-Barre, PA, she was the daughter of the late Christos and Maria Papaconstantinou Pappas. Raised in Manville, NJ, Helen had also lived in Somerville, NJ prior to moving to Union Gap Village in 1976 as one of the first home buyers in the new development, where she remained for more than 40 years. She also proudly maintained a beach house in Sea Isle City, NJ, which she purchased in 1988.

A 1956 graduate of Somerville High School, Helen would earn her B.A. in Education from Trenton State Teachers College. Always one with a voracious appetite for knowledge, this degree would be followed by a Master of Education from Rutgers the State University of New Jersey Graduate School of Education, and then an Ed.D from Lehigh University.

It was in her childhood that Helen dreamed of becoming a teacher. Her career would begin with the Manville, NJ School District, where she was an elementary teacher. She would later move to the Bridgewater-Raritan School District, where she would spend the majority of her career. In addition to teaching K-12 reading, language arts and drama, Helen also served many years as an administrator: she was the district reading coordinator and the language arts supervisor.

Her passion was surely in the material and subject matter in which she taught, but Helen was both sociable and humane, driven to help others; she saw her students as part of her own family and would give of her entire self in order to help them achieve their maximum potential. Helen was truly gifted in her ability to relate to both the gifted learners and the students who needed extra remediation daily, treating all students equally. Simply put, she cared. Her students knew it, respected her for it, and responded in kind. She was the epitome of what an educator should be, and many students were as honored to call Helen their teacher and friend, as she was to call them her students and friends.

Helen also worked for Educational Testing Service scoring educational licensure for school principals. In addition, she served as a reading consultant with EMC Publishing, Coin, MN. This work allowed her to enjoy another one of her passions: traveling. Her excursions ranged from Mount Rushmore to the Great Wall of China; from Australia and New Zealand to Rio de Janeiro and England; and many more destinations in between. Helen was a world traveler who enjoyed experiencing new cultures with her family and friends and loved to regale and enlighten people with stories of her travels.

Growing up in a household where her Greek heritage and language was of paramount importance, Helen learned at an early age to appreciate different people and cultures, and her traveling ensured that she could truly immerse herself and learn not only about new cultures, but of ways to help her students learn and be successful in their life’s journeys.

Faith was also an important foundation for Helen. She was a longtime member of St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church, Flemington, NJ, where she served two terms as a member of the Parish Council and was instrumental in seeing the construction of the new church come to fruition. She also coordinated the church’s Sunday School and Greek School. She spent many happy days at church and was involved with helping to plan and execute many church activities.

A gifted performer, she was involved in community theater with the Foothill Playhouse and the Center Stage at Hunterdon Arts Center. Constantly humming a tune, she loved to burst into song whenever the opportunity arose, and oftentimes she would see to it that the opportunity arose! In addition to acting in community theatre, Helen had many directing credits to her name. She was also known to frequently sit in for a set or two with the house band at the Still Creek Tavern in Tamaqua, PA.

Fiercely independent yet extraordinarily kind, Helen is not easy to sum up. Faithful, hopeful, and loving are an easy place to start. Her family was her world, and “Leni” (as her family called her) strove to spark hope and joy in their hearts each and every day. She inspired laughter, wanderlust and a love of theater. Her time was their time, and she would be there for her family and friends in any way they might imagine – as well as in ways they never could have expected. She was a superhero, a leading lady, a comedienne and a guardian angel all rolled into one, and her legacy will surely live on in both the hearts and in the actions of everyone who was touched by her gentle soul.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her brother, Athanasios Pappas; her brother-in-law, Angelo Pelios; and a nephew, Timothy Pappas.

Surviving are her sister, Georgia N. Pelios; goddaughter and niece Dr. Katina A. Pappas-DeLuca; nephews and nieces and their spouses and families: the Rev. Dr. Christopher A. Pappas, Aliki Pappas Weakland, the Hon. Elia A. Pelios, Anastasia Pelios Greene, Demetri A. Pappas, Kristen Campbell, and Colleen Campbell; her sister-in-law, Mary Ellen Pappas; fifteen grandnephews and grandnieces; numerous first cousins in Greece; her students around the world who continued to make her proud each day; and many dear friends.

Given the current gathering restrictions in place in New Jersey, the Funeral Liturgy officiated by Fr. Anastasios Kousoulas at St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church, Flemington, NJ, was private under the care and direction of Wright & Ford Family Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 38 State Highway 31, Flemington, NJ 08822.

Burial took place near her beloved parents and family at New Cemetery, 192 South Bridge Street, Somerville, NJ 08876.

Please visit Helen’s permanent memorial site at www.wrightfamily.com to light a memorial candle, leave messages of condolence, share words of comfort and recollection, and post photographs of her life.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in her honor may be made to St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church, 85 Voorhees Corner Road, Flemington, NJ 08822 or online by clicking HERE.

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Wright & Ford, your local, family owned & operated “Life Celebration Home”