Helen (Howes) Place, age 94, of Westfield, NY passed away peacefully and entered her heavenly home on Wednesday, October 19, 2016.
Helen was born on April 23, 1922 in Buffalo, NY, a daughter of the late Clarence and Bessie Rimer Howes. She graduated from Lafayette High School in 1939 and attended Crown Business School. She was employed by Bell Aircraft in Buffalo until she married Karl Place of Oswego, NY in 1943 in Amherst, MA, and then lived in Joplin, MO. While Karl was overseas during World War II, Helen returned to Buffalo and worked at Sacony Vacuum Oil Company.
Helen lived in Ripley from 1950 to 1962, where she worked in the school cafeteria and spent those summers in Thunder Bay, Ontario in a cottage they built together. They moved to Westfield in 1962, where they owned and operated the Sleepy Hollow Motel on East Main Road for thirty years. Helen was employed as an accountant at Welch Grape Juice Company until 1972.
Helen enjoyed her 40+ retirement years as a volunteer. She and Karl served under the Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society at Ivory Coast Academy in West Africa for 18 months in 1973-74 as volunteer dorm parents and teacher. They then volunteered for 30 years during the winter months at the Rio Grande Bible Institute in Edinburg, TX, where Helen worked in the Post Office and Karl worked as a plumber and carpenter.
Helen moved to South Portage Street in 1992 and resided there summers while wintering in McAllen, TX until their move to Fredonia Place in 2013 and later to Absolut. She was a faithful member of the First Baptist Church of Westfield and the Gideons International Auxiliary, and she and Karl were both active in the Dunkirk-Fredonia Camp and in the McAllen, TX Camp of the Gideons for over 40 years.
Helen loved the water and she swam at the Welch Field pool every morning during July and August for many years. She and Karl also enjoyed boating on Lake Chautauqua and cruised the 1,000 Islands, the Trent and Rideau Canals in Canada from Lake Ontario to the Georgian Bay and also to Ottawa. They made their final cruise on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers from Pittsburgh to St. Petersburg and wintered on the Gulf.
Helen is survived by her daughter, Karen (Sid) Hoyt of Westfield, NY and her son, Dr. Ronald (Sharon) Place of Buena Vista, CO. Helen was a proud grandmother of Scott (Stefanie Pouthier) Hoyt of Austin, TX, Jeffrey (Laci) Hoyt of Groton, NY, Heather (Keith) Johnson of Brighton, CO and Melinda (Joaquin) Flores of Issaquah, WA; and great-grandmother of Jacob, Ryan and Tyler Johnson, Kaija, Avery, Makena and Violet Hoyt, and Cruz and Mia Flores. Helen is further survived by her brother-in-law, Carl Woznicki of Blacklick, OH; and her sister-in-law, Dorothy Howes of Antioch, CA. Helen had 13 nieces and nephews and was very involved in their lives when they were growing up. She loved her extended family and their many friends in both New York and Texas.
Helen was preceded in death by her husband of 72 years, Karl H. Place, who passed away on November 4, 2015; as well as her parents; two sisters; Ruth (Howes) Seychew and Francis (Howes) Woznicki; one brother, Harold Howes; and an infant brother, Robert Howes.
Memorial service and burial will be held at a later date at a time convenient to the family.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Westfield Memorial Hospital Foundation, the First Baptist Church of Westfield, the Memorial Bible Plan of Gideons International, or to the Rio Grande Bible Institute, 4300 South US Highway 281, Edinburg, TX 78539, for the sponsorship of students.
Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to the Mason Funeral Home. Log on to www.masonfuneral.com to send the Place/Hoyt family a message of sympathy, to light a Memorial Candle, or for further information.
"When Someone you Love Becomes a Memory, the Memory Becomes a Treasure."
Obituary from the Observer
