Helen (Egan) Squillacioti, 86, of New Bedford died April 19, 2008 after a long illness. The daughter of the late John and Sophie (Sweeney) Egan, Helen was born and raised in New Bedford, lived for a time in Boston and Sharon, and later was a long-time resident of South Dartmouth. Soon after graduating in 1942 as a Registered Nurse from the Waltham Hospital School of Nursing, she enrolled in the U.S. Army Nursing Corps. After basic training at Fort Devens and Fort Dix, she boarded the Queen Mary, then converted as a troop ship, from New York to Southampton, England. She crossed the English Channel in the wake of the Normandy invasion on D-Day, and first saw action in a tent hospital on Omaha Beach, followed by further tending to wounded soldiers in many other such facilities on the battlefields of France and Germany. Helen celebrated VE Day in Paris, then toured Belgium, before ultimately meeting General Eisenhower in Nuremberg. After the war, she was honorably discharged, having been commissioned as 1st Lieutenant. She continued her nursing career on the staff of Boston City Hospital, Norwood Hospital and other Boston-area hospitals. Returning to New Bedford, she became a Public Health Nurse for the city, and after a number of years in that role, served the rest of her professional career as a public school nurse in many of the city's schools.
Helen was pre-deceased by her husband, Tony Squillacioti, of Montauro, Italy and Boston's North End, as well as her sisters, Mary Leahy and Eileen Egan. She is survived by her daughter, Sharon Bowley of Berkley, her son, Tony Squillacioti of Norwood, grandchildren Johanna, Erin, Josh and Gemma, great grandchildren Liam and Sonia, nephew Paul Leahy, grand nephews Liam, Conal and Brendan, many cousins in clan Egan, life long friend Harriet Servais, friend and good neighbor Kay Gardella and many other friends and beneficiaries of her nursing expertise over half a century.
Her Committal Service will be held on Friday April 25 at 12:30 PM at the Mass. National Cemetery, Bourne. Her Memorial Mass will be held on Saturday, April 26 at 11 AM at St. Mary's Church, South Dartmouth. Visiting hours are omitted. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Wounded Warrior Project, 7020 A.C. Skinner Pkwy, Suite 100, Jacksonville, FL. 32256, or online at www.woundedwarriorproject.org/. For online condolence book, please visit www.saundersdwyer.com.