HELEN HAYE CORT

CORRECTION CORT, Helen Haye Of Nahant, MA, 93, on July 2, 2016. Raised in Baldwinsville, NY, the only child of Dr. George and Florence Haye. At age 16, she discovered a new Catholic magazine, The Commonweal, and was particularly impressed with the work of two writers. She met the first, Father Joseph N. Moody, at the College of New Rochelle where she studied sociology and was class president. In 1943, as a senior doing volunteer work at the Association of Catholic Trade Unionists, she met the second journalist, John C. Cort, a 29-year-old Harvard graduate who had joined the Catholic Worker, worked as labor organizer, and co-founded ACTU. He was also a confirmed bachelor, with tuberculosis and intermittently confined to sanatoriums. After graduation, Helen made herself indispensable by delivering John's articles to The Commonweal, eventually convincing him he could survive TB long enough to take a chance on marriage, and they wed in 1946. During the 1940s, she associated with many liberal thinkers, union organizers and journalists in New York City. She worked for the Hotel Service Employees Union Local #32A and Hotels, Hospitals, Nursing Home and Allied Services Union Local #144 under Peter Ottley, and was a regional officer for the Congress of Industrial Organizations. She cared for her husband (who lived until age 92) and their growing family, moving to Brighton (where John worked for the Newspaper Guild of Boston), the Philippines (where they welcomed numerous Peace Corps volunteers into their home from 1962 – 1964), Newton Centre, and Roxbury before finally settling in Nahant in 1970. In 1968, while living near Dudley Station and after her youngest started kindergarten, she began a career with the Massachusetts Department of Social Services as a part-time caseworker in Mission Hill and eventually retired in 1992 as the associate director of the Division of Appeals. She was active in numerous organizations including the Catholic Interracial Council and the Democratic Town Committee of Nahant, volunteered with the Florence Crittenton Home in Oak Square and with Alzheimer patients on the North Shore, helped restore the Nahant Community Center, and served as a lector, lay leader and CCD teacher. At home, she excelled at baking cookies, pies and (twice weekly) bread, and fed large groups with aplomb. She welcomed family, stray travelers and friends of friends of friends at a moment's notice – adding another plate to the table and asking those present to slide down on the bench to make room for the latest arrival. She was incredibly strong, smart and selfless. When asked how she wanted to be remembered, she replied, "She hath done what she could." She is survived by her 10 children and their spouses (Barbara Gaerlan of Los Angeles, CA, Nicholas and Evelyn Cort of Bow, NH, Paul and Kitty Cort of Wellesley, Rebecca Cort and Dionigi Cossu of New York, NY, Lydia Cort of Santa Fe, NM, Maryliz Cort of Nahant, Alice Cort and Bruce Walker of Nahant, David Cort and Joie Gelband of Watertown, Susan Cort of Santa Fe, NM and Julia Cort of Nahant); 14 grandchildren and their spouses (Terry and Renee Gaerlan; Colin, Tara, Cameron and Aidan Cort; Paul Cossu; Katherine Walker and Christopher Dalton; Adam Walker; Benjamin Cort; May Cort; Eugene (Jack) Matias; Sonja Matias; Eliza Lehner and Alexander Lehner); and 2 great-grandchildren (Alexander and Ryker Gaerlan). A vigil at the St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Nahant, MA, will be held on Wednesday, July 6 between 5 and 7 P.M., followed by a funeral mass on Thursday, July 7 at 10:00 A.M. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to My Brother's Table, Lynn, MA.