CHICOPEE – Helen S. Desmarais, 88, of the Aldenville section of Chicopee was Called Safely Home on Tuesday, May 1, 2012. She passed into Eternal Life from the home and room in which she was born, surrounded by the care and comfort of her loving family. She was born at home in the Aldenville section of Chicopee on December 26, 1923, a beloved daughter of the late Charles and Rosella (Rougeau) Desmarais. She was raised in Chicopee, graduated from Saint Joan of Arc Elementary School in Aldenville and Saint Jerome High School in Holyoke and was a lifelong resident of Aldenville. Helen was employed at the former Fisk Tire and Rubber Company, later the Uniroyal Corporation. She worked there for 35 years and was the secretary to the Chief Engineer of the plant. She took a very active role in many of the plant activities as a member of their golf league and as a key member of their singing chorale. Following the closing of the plant, she was then employed for 7 years as a personal secretary to the College Development Officer at the College of Our Lady of the Elms in Chicopee. Helen was considered the matriarch of the Desmarais family and maintained the old homestead in Aldenville where most of the important family meetings and decisions were made. In recent years,she organized the annual Fourth of July family reunion, where this year, they will celebrate their 87th family get together. For the past 20 years, Helen initiated the Desmarais’ family support of Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen in Chicopee. The Desmarais sisters and friends prepared a favorite meat loaf dinner for 100 people every last Wednesday of the month for the past 19 years and were recently honored by the kitchen’s board of directors for their outstanding loyalty and dedication. She was an active member of the Chicopee USO during World War II and still maintained a current membership with the organization. Helen contributed to many non-profit organizations and maintained a strong dedication to the Haitian Health Foundation, where she contributed annually with financial assistance, food and clothing at their Norwich, Connecticut headquarters. Active in her faith, she was a lifelong communicant of Sainte Rose de Lima Church where she was a member of the Ladies of Saint Anne Sodality. She leaves: her sisters and brother, Claire L. Hudson of Chicopee, Jeannine G. Sullivan and her husband, William, of West Springfield and Charles E. Desmarais, Jr. and his wife, Joan, of Chicopee; her sister-in-law, Maryanne Desmarais of Cape Cod; her 23 nephews and nieces; and her 16 grandnephews and grandnieces with whom she had a very special relationship. Besides her parents, she was predeceased by her brother, Kenneth Desmarais; her sisters, Lorraine Gwozdzik and her husband, Joseph, and Theresa M. Cadieux and her husband, Roger; and her brother-in-law, Irvin Hudson. Her funeral will be held on Saturday morning, May 5, 2012 beginning at the St. Pierre – Phaneuf Aldenville Chapels, (413-532-9806), 13 Dale Street, Chicopee, MA 01020, (funeral home will open at 9 a.m.), followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30 a.m. in Sainte Rose de Lima Church, 600 Grattan Street, Chicopee, MA 01020. Her burial will be private at the convenience of her family at Sainte Rose Cemetery, 49 Olsen Street, Chicopee, MA 01020. Her family will receive friends at the funeral home on Friday, May 4, 2012 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The parking lot and main entrance are located in the rear of the funeral home at 20 Lafayette Street, Chicopee, MA 01020. Her family has requested that in lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in her memory to: Sainte Rose de Lima Church, 15 Chapel Street, Chicopee, MA 01020; Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen, 170 Pendexter Avenue, Chicopee, MA 01013; or to the Haitian Health Foundation, 97 Sherman Street, Norwich, CT 06360. For our online obituary and guest book, please visit: www.stpierrephaneuf.com