Helen June Cranska Hegblom

Beloved wife, mother, nana, teacher.

Helen June Cranska Hegblom passed away peacefully in her sleep on March 31st, 2026, at her home in Wellesley, MA, surrounded by her family.

Helen, the youngest daughter of Lucius and Mary Cranska, grew up in Moosup, Connecticut along with her sister, Hope and near to her aunts and grandparents and many of her cousins whom she knew from a young age. Her father ran a local thread mill down the street from her home, which had been in the family since1880 and shared in ownership with her father's sisters making its operations a frequent topic of family discussions. Helen attended Plainfield High School, and then graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in Government and the prize for tops her major.

Helen moved to Boston where she taught special education at Holbooke schools and earned a masters' degree in education from Tufts University. In her apartment building, she met her future husband, Richard Hegblom, a research physicist, whom she married in 1968.

In a few years, the coupled moved to a suburban neighborhood street in Wellesley with the pending birth of their first child. Helen left teaching to raise her two sons, Eric and Robert, in the 1970s and 80s. She later returned to teaching in 1989, eventually becoming a full-time math teacher at Newton South High School until 2008.

Helen was a long-time member of the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church, where she was a frequent usher and engaged in many church volunteer activities. Helen kept up her social life not only with her sister, family, and fellow teachers, but through her enjoyment of the Boston Symphony, knitting, bridge, and senior exercise classes.

Helen was a natural nurturer from the children in special-ed, to high-school kids, to her own children and grandchildren, to her husband, to her late-sister, the neighbor's children and to a series of three golden retrievers she owned, cared for and deeply adored. Despite her own terminal health condition, she often remained concerned and sympathetic for others in her life and delighted by their stories.

Helen is survived by her husband age 90, her two sons, Eric and Robert, and her four granddaughters: Katherine, Natalie, Lyla and Molly.

A visiting hour and service will take place on Monday, April 6, 2026 starting 1 pm (visiting hour) and 2 pm (service) at the Henry J. Burke & Sons Funeral Home, 56 Washington St., Wellesley MA followed by interment in Woodlawn Cemetery, Wellesley, MA. A memorial service in Wellesley will also be planned for a later date.

The family will happily accept flowers, or alternatively a donation to the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church or to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation in Helen's name.