Helen Zisk passed away peacefully at her home on April 12, 2023 in the 98th year of her life. We knew Helen as a shy, sweet person, quiet and gentle, who was kind to everyone she encountered, friend or stranger, and was always willing to help people. And we knew her for her smile, which she shared with everyone, and unfailingly, despite the significant hardships she endured in her life. Like so many of the “greatest generation” Helen kept her courage to herself. It’s an honor to share this slice of history with the neighbors of this remarkable person.

Born in Poland on February 17, 1925, the daughter of Martin and Katherine Lukashik, Helen was imprisoned in a concentration camp during her early life in World War II. This experience, however, and those that followed, never embittered her. Instead, she remembered, and would share, her personal triumph rather than her personal strife.

Contrary to her small stature, Helen was strong, and feisty. Even as she aged, one could sense a dynamic presence in her tiny frame. This manifested itself when displaced Europeans were selected to come to America after the war. The deportation process included examinations and interviews. Many people told Helen that the officials would never pick her, given that she was so small — Helen stood less than five feet tall and probably weighed all of eighty pounds soaking wet. There was one man in particular who continuously tried to convince her that she would never be chosen. However, Helen had a “secret weapon”; she could read and write. Helen remembered standing on the deck of the ship as it departed for the United States and waving to the crowds who came to watch, recalling specifically that man who insisted she wouldn‘t be selected, who remained behind.

Helen and her husband, Stanley, who predeceased her, lived in New Britain for many years where she worked in a factory. The Zisks moved to their home in Hampton in 1985 to distance themselves from the negative element in the city to raise their son, Richard, in a small, country environment. Helen and her husband also had a daughter, Christine, who died in infancy. Helen’s remaining family still lives in Poland, the children of her five siblings, who also predeceased her.

After moving to Hampton, in the home where Helen has lived ever since, the two houses the Zisks owned in New Britain, their residence and a rental property, were sold and proceeds from the sales were placed into stocks, accumulating sufficient funds for Helen to hire live-in caretakers for these last several years and fulfill her ultimate wish – to stay at her home for the remainder of her life.