Helen DiFalco
May 30, 1929 ~ October 23, 2018
Helen DiFalco, 89, died Tuesday, October 23, 2018.
Helen Elizabeth DiFalco was born in Nashville, Tennessee on May 30, 1929. Her early education was at St. Rita School for the Deaf in Cincinnati, St. Joseph School for the Deaf in St. Louis and Detroit Day School for the Deaf in Detroit. Her high school years were spent at Michigan State School for the Deaf in Flint, Michigan. She graduated from Dorsey Business College in Detroit.
Helen won the seventh and eighth grade championships in the Detroit News Metropolitan Spelling Bee against hearing students using her talents in lip reading. She received an engraved dictionary for each year.
Helen married Philip DiFalco on September 16, 1950. She was employed as a traffic auditor at Conrail Railroad Company for 34 years, retiring in 1989.
She served in a leadership capacity for many golf, bowling and social associations for the deaf in the Detroit and Phoenix areas. She also served on the Michigan Board of the Department of Licensing and Regulations, the Michigan Board for Mental Health and the Dearborn Task Force for the Handicapped.
Helen and Philip lived in Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan most of their lives. They retired to Sun City West, Arizona in 1993. Philip passed away in 1996. Helen has been a resident of the Wichita community for the past 6 years.
Memorial Mass will be at 10:00 am, Saturday, October 27, 2018, at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.
Preceded in death by her parents, Francis and Helen Gellenbeck; husband, Philip DiFalco; sisters, Mary Anne Mangelsen, Margaret Bennett; brothers, Thomas Gellenbeck, Alfred Gellenbeck. Survived by her sisters, Virgina (James) Sachs of Wichita, KS, Carole (Jack) Kellogg of Plainwell, MI, Nancy Jane (Thomas) McPhail of Gardnerville, NV.
Memorials have been established with: Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice, 313 S. Market, Wichita, KS, 67202; St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, 861 N. Socora, Wichita, KS, 67212; Bishop Carroll Catholic High School, 8101 West Central, Wichita, KS, 67212.
Downing & Lahey Mortuary - West Chapel.
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Those who pass on God Keeps in his memory because he cares for them. Sorry for your loss.
She was a good life. God cares of her for ever.
I am so sorry for your loss. May the God who ‘binds up the brokenhearted’ and ‘comforts all who mourn,’ strengthen you during this difficult time. Isaiah 61:1, 2.
Helen was a good and active leader for Greater Phoenix
Deaf Senior Citizens during her residence in Sun City West,
AZ. Her moving out of Arizona was our loss.
If it were not for Aunt Helen & Uncle Philip my parents would have never been able to get away overnight.
I am glad and thankful for those times with her. God bless her.
Please accept our deepest condolences for your family’s loss.