Helen M. La Rocque, 96, passed away on the evening of June 25 at Chase Point in Damariscotta. A long-time resident of Newcastle, and later Damariscotta, she was just a few months away from her 97th birthday. She had been a resident of Chase Point Assisted Living since 2012.
Helen was born on Sept. 5, 1919 in Boston, and grew up in Charlestown, Mass. She attended the Bunker Hill School, and graduated from Girls High School. She married her sweetheart, Joseph W. La Rocque, on Jan. 2, 1942, right after America’s entry into WWII. He was shipped out to the Pacific Theater soon after that year. During the war, Helen worked on an assembly line fastening clasps to flight jackets, raised vegetables in victory gardens, and in 1944 went to Texas to nurse her husband back to health after his service in Guadalcanal.
In the 1950s, she started a 30-plus year career with the First National Bank of Boston. During her working career, she began tutoring students at Charlestown’s Boys Club, and later in Somerville, Mass.
While living in Newcastle, she began a 14-year-long career as a volunteer tutor at Great Salt Bay Community School, helping first-graders master reading. Helen was a strong advocate for Miles of Friends, an intergenerational program that matched residents of Schooner Cove and second graders from Great Salt Bay Community School. She was involved with this program for six years.
She attended Damariscotta Baptist Church, and worked as the church’s representative to the Ecumenical Food Pantry. Her charities were her church, the Great Salt Bay Community School, and the Ecumenical Food Pantry.
Besides her parents, she was predeceased by her husband, Joe.
She is survived by her son, Alan David La Rocque and wife Zenaida; son, Stephen James La Rocque and wife Dalisay; and granddaughter, Lara Ruth Sadr and husband Bobby.
A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m., Wed., July 6 at the Strong-Hancock Funeral Home, 612 Main St., Damariscotta. She will be laid to rest next to her husband in the Hillside Cemetery in Damariscotta following the service.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ecumenical Food Pantry, PO Box 46, Newcastle, ME 04553.
Condolences, and messages for the family, may be expressed by visiting www.StrongHancock.com.
Arrangements are under the direction and care of the Strong-Hancock Funeral Home, 612 Main St., Damariscotta.