Helene Louise Subach, R.N.

Helene L. Subach Obituary Helene Louise Subach, R. N., 81, died peacefully after a long illness on May 11, 2019. The daughter of Helen Christine and Louis Albert Cieslukowski, she was educated in Shenandoah, PA by the Polish Franciscans and graduated from Shenandoah Catholic High School in 1955. She received her nursing degree on scholarship from Philadelphia General Hospital in 1958 and began her career in Philadelphia as a Pediatrics charge nurse. She continued at St. Vincent’s in Erie, where she worked on OB/GYN. After moving to Broomall in 1967, Helene contributed primarily in the ICU of Haverford Hospital. At the time of her retirement she was a devoted nurse on the Substance Abuse Unit of Mercy Haverford.Helene was a member of St. Pius X Sodality and the Divine Mercy prayer group among other prayer groups; and she prayed the rosary nearly daily. She was a committed parent involved in a range of activities at both St. Pius X, where she was also a school nurse, and at Cardinal O’Hara High School, where she taught Health. Members of the South Marple Little League may remember “Mrs. Subach” as one of the Candy Stand Mothers from her years on the Women’s Auxiliary, and former Marple Junior Tigers may remember her as their team nurse.Helene enjoyed traveling and especially valued talking with the people she met on trips to England, France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Poland, Lithuania, Chile, Argentina, Florida, and Maine, among many other places. She cherished the times shared with her grandchildren on annual vacations in Duck, North Carolina. She had a beautiful voice and loved both singing and attending the theatre. She led the polka at many weddings. The traditional Polish-Lithuanian Christmas Eve dinner (“Wigilia-Kucios”) was one of the most important rituals that she shared with her family. She came from a long line of seamstresses and garment workers and inherited a talent for dressmaking. She was a power shopper, and her family will remember her refrain of: “It’s not a bargain unless you love it, it fits, and you are going to wear it!”One of Helene’s greatest pleasures was in conversation and in the discovery of interpersonal links through her prodigious memory for names, dates, and places. Other pleasures were reciting “October’s Party” by George Cooper, visiting Longwood Gardens, enjoying fine seafood, buying and sending cards for every occasion, and finding just the right gift, sometimes kielbasy from Kowalonek’s upstate. She loved autumn. She was a deeply generous person, especially with her time and energy, and she valued babysitting for and sharing cultural events with her grandchildren. Helene served with the Marple Republican Party as a Committee Woman for over twenty years and often worked at the polls.She was the devoted wife of John J. Subach, her husband of fifty-eight years; mother of Karen, John (Jeanie), and James (GraceAnn DeCesaris); grandmother of Katie (Jimmy Keenan), Allie, Anne, Josiah, Hannah, and Caleb, and the late John Shane Subach; and great-grandmother of John and Whitney Keenan. In addition to her immediate family, she is survived by her brother Louis (Dorothy); sister Maria (Tom); sister-in-law, Alice (Ray); nephews; nieces; Michele Day, “The Palubinskys,” and cousins in the United States and in Lithuania. Her parents; her brother, Joseph; and her sister-in-law, Barbara, pre­ deceased her. Visitation will be held on Thursday, 11 AM to 12:15 PM at St. Pius X Church, 220 Lawrence Road, Broomall, PA 19008. Funeral Mass to follow at 12 :30 PM.Interment Private. A memorial service for the family will be held in Shenandoah, PA. Interment (private) will be at Our Lady of Dawn, Shenandoah Heights, PA.In lieu of flowers, the family requests that those who remember Helene fondly buy themselves something beautiful to wear that is a bargain and fits perfectly; or make a donation in Helene’s memory to: West Chester University Foundation, 202 Carter Drive, West Chester, PA 19382. Reference HELENE SUBACH Nursing Scholarship, payable to WCU FOUNDATION.