Helen Louise Howisen

Helen Louise Howisen, age 84, of Chesterton, Indiana, peacefully passed away on Tuesday, September 9, 2025, in Michigan City, Indiana surrounded by her family. Helen was born on June 29, 1941 in Blue Island, Illinois to Joseph and Josephine (nee Cimoch) Wozniak and was named in honor of the nun working in labor and delivery at St. Francis Hospital the day she was born; Sister Helen Louise.

Helen grew up in Blue Island and Cal Park and attended St. Isidore Catholic grade school. During that time her Catholic faith grew as she worked with the Nuns in the convent next to the Parish. She attended Dwight D Eisenhower High School and then worked as a legal secretary as she attended Chicago State University for a degree in Elementary Education.

Helen's teaching career began as a third grade teacher and during that time she took evening classes and earned her Master's Degree in education from Purdue Calumet. District 149 hired Helen to be District 149's first Kindergarten teacher. The District noticed that Helen's students from her kindergarten classes were consistently ahead in reading and she was asked to move to First Grade to improve the District's reading scores. During her time as a first grade teacher, Helen's interest in helping developmentally disabled students grew and she pursued and earned a second Master's Degree in Early Childhood Education from National Louis University.

As an early childhood teacher, Helen and her aide Mrs. Treadwell became close friends and together they helped 100's of pre-k students get developmentally caught up. In 1993-94 Helen was a Mini Grant Winner for her Language Stimulation through the Use of the Reggio Amelia Approach and she used the approach in her classroom until she retired from Caroline Sibley following the 1999-2000 school year. Helen wasn't retired long as she soon began assisting the Kindergarten program at St Thomas More in Munster and shortly thereafter Hoover Schrum District 157 hired her to run their early childhood program until she retired a 2nd time in 2011 due to the anticipated birth of her first grandchild Elizabeth.

Despite living only 15 minutes apart, Helen met her husband of 58 years on Harry's 26th Birthday in Vail Colorado. Helen and her friend Shirley took a trip to Denver to visit Helen's aunt who had just had a baby girl. After a couple of days at her aunt's home, her aunt encouraged Shirley and Helen to take a bus and see this new town Vail. Helen and Shirley got on a bus but during their journey a blizzard hit Vail Pass. As fate would have it, Helen and Shirley had befriended an older couple also on the bus and the older couple was able to share a ride with them from where the bus pulled off to get the rest of the way to Vail. The couple dropped them off at the newly built Vail Village Inn. The hotel was sold out but the manager said they could stay in the employee bunk room since no one would be sleeping that night due to the number of guests and the blizzard.

The following morning, Helen and Shirley were having breakfast and as Helen described it, "I was eating the most delicious, fluffy French toast I had ever had when this shadow came over our table. I was upset that these two guys were interrupting our breakfast." Helen only gave her name to Harry and if you know how many Wozniaks were in the phone book back then, you have an idea how many calls Harry had to make until he reached the name Joseph Wozniak and was able to ask Helen out for a first date. Over 60 years together and 58 years of marriage the rest is history.

Helen and her husband Harry loved to travel and they visited 6 of the 7 continents together. They loved shopping at Walmart, going to the Frankfurt Art Fair and other community art fairs, and Helen was a 60+ year patron of the now Macy's (formerly Marshall Fields) in River Oaks.

Helen is survived by her husband, Harry Howisen; son, Harry (Michelle) Howisen; grandchildren, Elizabeth, Luke, and Joseph Howisen; brother, Robert (Bonnie) Wozniak; aunt, Helen Cimoch, nephews, Frank (Sue) Voltolina, Tom (Lisa) Voltolina, Mark (Julia) Wozniak, Paul (Julie) Wozniak; niece, Gail (Dan) Pucci; and many special great nieces and nephews with whom Helen shared a special bond.

Helen is preceded in death by her parents, Joseph and Josephine Wozniak; and sister, Carol Voltolina.

Mass of Christian Burial for Helen will be held at 10:00 am on Friday, September 19, 2025, at St. Patrick Catholic Church, 638 N. Calumet Rd., Chesterton, IN, 46304 with Fr. Jon Plavcan officiating. Visitation will be held on Thursday, September 18, 2025 from 4:00 pm until 8:00 pm at Edmonds & Evans Funeral Home, 517 Broadway, Chesterton, IN 46304. Helen will be laid to rest at St. Patrick Catholic Cemetery in a private service at a later date.

In her passing Helen would have wanted to continue to help students with early childhood special needs and honor her former elementary students that passed before her.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Through the Looking Glass at lookingglass.org/children-youth or to the V Foundation's Dick Vitale Pediatric Cancer Research fund at v.org/research-overview/special-funds/pediatrics/.

To leave online condolences to family please visit www.ee-fh.com