Obituary of Helen B. Godfrey

Helen Barbara Godfrey (Schilling) passed away in her sleep at Mill Gardens Assisted Living in Midland Park on March 26th 2016. Helen was born on May 1, 1928 in New York City to Anna Schilling (Lauer) and Eugene Schilling, both German immigrants who arrived in New York in 1912 and 1917 respectively. Helen was the younger sister to Eugenie, born four years earlier. Helen grew up in Queens New York, in various apartments, until the family finally settled in their own house on Olcott Street in Forest Hills. Helen attended Grover Cleveland High School, where she was elected Girls President of the school in her senior year, with the campaign slogan thought up by her older sister “Schilling is Willing”. Helen’s high school yearbook listed under her photograph “Lovable, Laughable, full of fun, she’s one in a million, as bright as the sun”. She was an enthusiastic about food throughout her life, her childhood diary is full of detailed descriptions of what her mother had baked that day. After High School, she worked in the billing department for New York Telephone at the Bryant Exchange in Manhattan. Helen married William Hamilton Godfrey in September 1950 and they initially settled in an apartment in Fort Lee NJ, before moving to their own home in Midland Park in 1952. Helen was a homemaker, as well as a part time nurse’s aide at Valley Hospital for 25 years. She is predeceased by her husband Bill and grandsons Ethan Maltzman and Tim Godfrey. She is survived by her sister Eugenie Smith, her children; Dan (and his wife Judy), Bill, Kate (and her husband Warren), John (and his wife Terry) and Tom (and his wife Cindy), granddaughters Becky Godfrey and Sidonie Maltzman. Visitation will be held on Thursday, March 31, 2016 from 10:00 until 11:30 at Vander Plaat Funeral Home, (vpfh.com), 257 Godwin Ave., Wyckoff, NJ 07481. The funeral service will begin at 11:30 in the funeral home. Interment will follow at Maryrest Cemetery in Mahwah.