Helen Delores Arasin

Helen Delores (Tomasky) Arasin
of Binghamton
Helen Delores (Tomasky) Arasin was exalted November 27, 2007. Born in the town of Simpson, Pennsylvania in 1920, Helen was predeceased by her parents, Barney and Mary Tomasky, her brothers Joseph, Leo, John, Stanley and Ambrose, her sisters Cecelia, Mary, Stasia, Theresa and Veronica, and by her husband, Edward Arasin. Helen is survived by her son Edward of Binghamton, her daughter Denise, California, her sister Josephine, her brothers Bernard and Edward, a special neighbor, Maggie, and many nieces and nephews, including her Godson Myron. Growing up during the Great Depression, she dropped out of school to help her mother raise her younger siblings. She and her siblings would often get up early to walk miles in worn out shoes to Number Four Pond where they picked berries to sell by the side of the road for cents per quart. The earnings went to their mother. At 16 years of age, she started work at the silk mill in Simpson, where she inspected parachutes for the U.S. military. Over the years, she also worked for Fair Play Caramels, Dunn-McCarthy, Endicott-Johnson, Triple Cities Dress Factory, J.C. Penney, Fowler's Department Store, and Binghamton General Hospital. Helen loved her irises. During a laundry cycle, it was not unusual for her to take a few swings at a pitched ball with her children in the small back yard where irises flourished. Helen took pride in her work, managing to save a little from each meager paycheck. She found time and resources to attend the Rosary Society at St. Andrew's Church, St. Paul's volunteer for the Heart Fund, donate to the Salvation Army and support the Sierra Club's work to protect the Adirondack forests. Although of modest means, she believed in helping the less fortunate. Helen spent the last two years of her life at Willow Point Nursing Home, where her mothering instincts surfaced in expressing concern for other residents and offering to go to the kitchen to fix her son supper during his visits. Her legacy is her children, and a lesson on how to raise the modest above the confines of a humble life. Her quiet strength, resourcefulness and loving care will be missed.
At St. Michael's in Simpson - where Helen received baptism, first Holy Communion and confirmation - a memorial mass will be held Friday, Nov. 30, followed by burial in the church cemetery. Donations in Helen's name may be made to the Willow Point Memorial Fund for the benefit of the residents: Attn: Willow Point Memorial Fund, Willow Point Nursing Home, 3700 Vestal Rd., Vestal, NY 13850.