Helen Joyce Walczak

Helen Joyce Walczak (nee VanderPloeg) Age 91, found eternal serenity Friday March 25, 2022 with her loving Samoyed Echo and family by her side. She was born into temporal sainthood to Allie and Elsie (Wester) VanderPloeg in Milwaukee, WI on May 5, 1930, and spent her life in her kind of town, Milwaukee, until moving to Harbor Campus (Port Washington) to be closer to her granddaughter, Linnea, in 2016. She maintained lifelong correspondances with her family and friends, never forgetting a special occasion with the perfect card that she spent hours selecting, and inscribing with a heartfelt message. Despite more humble circumstances, she could make any guest feel most welcome with petite sandwiches, a myriad of cookies, tea or coffee, and the most luxurious feeling linens due to her pristine bed making skills. She read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel every morning, and had a sharp wit; she loved watching Dancing with the Stars weekly with Suzanne and Chica. Helen was a charter member of the M.I. Hummel Club, and shared a love of Kewpies with her best bosom friend from grade school, Rosalie Hoeft. She loved to travel, most especially and frequently to NYC with her best friend Dolly Cardenas-Rhyner, enjoying the musicals on Broadway, performances by Harry Belafonte, and Frank Sinatra. No weeknight was complete without “the Wheel;” Sundays were for 60 Minutes. Cemeteries were an adventure. She never complained or gossiped, always greeted the world with a smile, and remained most kind, content, generous and thoughtful through her last days. Helen loved to work; her favorite job was at the Boston Store with best friend Vera Ribansky (late, of Florida). She was proud to work at Allen Bradley until she was showing with her first child; at Nordberg, where she worked with her dear friends Marta and Hal until her primary retirement, and at Northern Computers, her “fun” job until final retirement with close friends Teri & Deborah. Though Helen was an excellent worker, her true calling was to be a grandparent. She gave up her retirement to raise her granddaughter Linnea in 1997, and her devotion to this vocation never wavered. One of Helen’s accomplishments of which she was most proud, even to her last day, was giving her granddaughter Linnea the opportunity to attend one of the finest high schools in the country, University School of Milwaukee. Helen drove three hours each day and tapped her retirement savings to show her granddaughter that better life: an experience for a lifetime. This was a tremendous and generous gift of love and devotion. Helen was a devoted mother to Michael (Mary) Walczak and Gail, proud grandmother to Benjamin (Jenny) Walczak, Angela (Paul) Robinson, and Linnea Laura Esberg (Jonathan Patti), and great-grandmother to Penelope, Oliver, and Lucas. Helen had very close relationships with her brother Glenn (Ann) and many cousins, and always said that the greatest blessings from her marriage were her steadfast and welcoming in-laws – she is further survived by Joan (Roger) Biesel, Eden Biesel, Joli (Jeff) Bruns, and her beloved god-daughter Erika Martin of Kentucky. Most sincere thanks go out to Helen’s caregivers at Harbor Campus Communities over the past seven years. Special thanks to Jackie VanPrice, who showed “Half Pint” extraordinary love, care, and compassion, Marcy Penfield who provided Helen with tremendous comfort in hospice, and Mike Fortin from Heartland Hospice who, exemplary in his job, provided Helen with rest and comfort in her final dozen hours. Private burial services were held at Forest Hill Cemetery and a gathering was held for her cherished Harbor Friends. – Good bye, sweet Helen… and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest…