Obituary of Helen Bauer

BAUER, Helen Lucy Mattes, 100, of Wyckoff, on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at home. Beloved wife of the late Theodore J. Bauer, MD, in 2005. Cherished mother of Jane and her husband Mike Gray of Marietta, GA, Virginia and her husband James Biedron of Clarksville, MD, Martha and her husband Rick Guild of Saddle River, and the late Mary L. Bauer in 1977. Loving grandmother of Michael, Christopher and David Gray, Jonathan Biedron and Jill Scherb, Sara Mazzuto Regan, James, William and Richard Mazzuto. Also surviving are nine great-grandchildren. Helen was born September 5, 1909 in Iowa City, Iowa. She was a 1931 graduate of the University of Iowa, where she became a proud life-long member of Sigma Kappa sorority and a devoted Hawkeye. After a courtship that began with ice-skating on the Iowa River when they were 16, Helen and Ted married in 1938 and embarked on a life-long adventure of devotion to public service in the Public Health Service of the United States. Prior to her marriage, Helen was a career pioneer in working for both the University of Iowa and the U.S. Employment Agency. A true partnership, Helen and Ted supported each other as Ted served in public health positions throughout the United States, culminating as the head of the CDC in Atlanta, and finally as Assistant Surgeon General of the United States from 1958-1962. Following Ted's retirement, the family settled in Wyckoff New Jersey where he became Chief Medical Officer at Becton-Dickinson Pharmaceuticals. Helen was active in many local charities, leagues, and organizations. She was a past member of the Ladies Auxiliary of Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, NJ; an inductee to the Immaculate Heart Academy Hall of Fame in Washington Township, NJ; and a member of the University of Iowa President's Club. She was an original member of High Mountain Golf Club in Franklin Lakes, NJ, and a longstanding parishioner of St. Elizabeth R.C. Church in Wyckoff, where she was a member of the Rosary Society. Visiting Tuesday 2-4 and 7-9 pm at the Vander Plaat Funeral Home (www.vpfh.com), 257 Godwin Ave. Wyckoff, NJ. Funeral Mass Wednesday 10 AM at St. Elizabeth's R.C. Church, 700 Wyckoff Ave. Wyckoff, NJ. Interment, Christ the King Cemetery, Franklin Lakes, NJ. In lieu of flowers, donations to Wyckoff Volunteer Ambulance Corps would be appreciated, PO Box 214 Wyckoff, NJ 07481 or http://www.wyckoffambulance.org/.