Helen Jane Haglund

Helen Jane Haglund (Hook) of Pleasanton, California died August 1, 2025 from multiple myeloma at the age of 85. Helen was born on a farm in Goulds, Ohio to John DeMarr Hook and Margaret Alice Hook (Scanlon). The family later moved to Maryland Ave in Steubenville. Helen reaped the fruits of a Catholic education by becoming an ardent atheist. While working as a lifeguard in her teens, she saved a drowning child, earning her a certificate from the Red Cross and inspiring a lifelong crusade to teach everyone she met how to swim, whether they wanted to or not.

Helen graduated from Miami University and aspired to be a doctor, but was guided to become a science teacher by institutional sexism. After several years of teaching on Long Island and in Detroit, she married Robert James Haglund and became an exceptional homemaker and nurturing mother to two daughters in Birmingham, Michigan. Helen made sure her daughters received the educational opportunities she had missed, from childhood music and art lessons to post-graduate degrees.

Helen's kindness was evident to all. She founded a junior varsity tennis team at her daughters's school because she couldn't abide the idea of anyone being left out, and she remained an avid tennis and later pickleball player all her life.

After their children left for college, Helen and Bob moved frequently, to France, Indiana, Singapore, New Jersey, and North Carolina, before finally retiring to a lakeside home in Keowee Key, South Carolina, where she could swim every day from May to October. In the off season, Helen was an avid puzzler (crosswords, acrostics, you name it). Although she dipped her toe in the waters of online puzzles, she continued to print out the NY Times crossword to do on paper, aided by the most bedraggled copies of Webster's Dictionary, Bartlett's Quotations, and Roget's Thesaurus you are likely to see.

Helen made friends easily wherever she went. She was a wonderful host for dinner parties, picnics, and overnight stays, producing five times more baked goods than needed for any occasion. She generously devoted time and energy to help family members, friends, and the communities in which she lived. She was intellectually curious, particularly about linguistics and genetics, but her poor internet search skills prevented her from finding many answers. Bob believes that her parting advice would be to pursue your interests as intensely as you can: life is short, seize the day.

Helen and Bob moved to California in 2018 to be near their daughters/tech support providers in old age, and almost died an hour after arrival by falling down a concrete staircase because they were too stubbornly independent to let their daughter carry their luggage. We are grateful that Helen survived for 7 more years, all but the last in decent health.

Preceded in death by her older sister Arlene, Helen is survived by husband Bob, daughters Kim and Cat, siblings John, Carolyn Sue, and Marian, and many adored nieces and nephews. Her remains received a green burial in Fernwood Cemetery, Mill Valley. A family reunion in her honor will be held in September, and a memorial party for local friends will be planned for a later date.