Helen S. Halloran

1930 - 2021

DANVILLE, Ill. - Helen S. Halloran, of Danville, and life-long resident of Ellicottville, N.Y., and Great Valley, N.Y., died on New Year's Day, Friday, Jan. 1, 2021. She was in her 91st year.

Helen was born in Ellicottville, in the family home, on Oct. 4th, 1930, to the local veterinarian, Garland Douglas "Doc" Stone and Mary Diver Stone.

Helen grew up in a town famous for wood products, notably baseball bats, and for hillsides with spectacular fall color. She and her two younger sisters, Barbara and Jean, rode their bikes all over town, shopped at the corner grocery, loved their town and their friends, and graduated from Ellicottville High School. Helen was an avid honor student, clarinet player, cheerleader, summer camper and swimmer.

She learned to ski on Ellicottville's Fish Hill, with lake-effect snow making it one of the snowiest mountainsides in the U.S. The ski lift then, a perilous uphill journey, was a rope tow powered by an old Dodge car engine, and hundreds of feet of manila "hay rope", built and maintained by her innovative dad, "Doc" Stone. From those early ski slopes, over some 80 years, grew the thriving resort Ellicottville is today.

The three sisters learned the wonders of life in rural southwestern New York from their close-knit extended family, with summers spent in the original Chautauqua Institution, in the next county. Helen credited strong family heritage; growing up in the depression; losing her first cousin, a Navy pilot, in the Battle of Midway; and rich family examples for her ingrained traits of hard work, public service, love of God and country and family tradition.

While at Ellicottville High School she met a guy, Joe, from Great Valley, who often walked to town to play his baseball games. He was known for his centerfield speed, quick bat and great grin. That is when she became a real baseball fan.

After a year at Syracuse University, she picked up his option and married him. Together she and her loving husband, true friend and life companion shared more than 60 years. They were married at Holy Name of Mary in Ellicottville on Nov. 26, 1949. Their lives came full circle as extended family shared treasured moments at the July, 2009 reunion in the Ellicottville town park near the ball diamond.

Helen and Joe built their own home on a picturesque piece of the Halloran family dairy farm in nearby Sugartown, N.Y., spending sweat equity on everything from the concrete work to the hardwood floors, which started as wild black cherry trees on home pasture slopes, and were personally felled, cut, finished and installed by them.

On the farm, in that home, they raised their two boys, Thomas and Daniel, in the loving nuclear family of the era. They had the help of both sets of grandparents, "Doc" and Mary Stone and John and Helen Hays Halloran, who had been friends long before they were in-laws. All had fond memories of Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations with "everyone" at the family home gathered around the festive table.

Helen devoted herself to raising her boys, and relished the swirl of leading the 4-H club, cheering high school football games, giving rides and loving family weekends swimming and sailing at Conesus Lake at her folks' "cottage."

Helen's dad "Doc" and her father-in-law John were veteran members of the Ellicottville School Board, effecting progressive changes. With their board retirements, husband Joe picked up the family tradition, and served on that board for more than two more decades. There were three proudest moments of that long tenure - Joe, and of course by proxy Helen, accepting the keys to the brand new school as board president, and signing and conferring high school diplomas to each of their sons.

Helen shared her love of reading and learning many years in Head Start as a teacher and administrator, principally on the nearby Seneca Reservation.

Halloran's Chicken Bar-B-Q, a collaborative family catering enterprise, was a fixture of the summer county fair and weekend picnic scene for many years, providing their unique sauce recipe, memorable meal and great service.

Crisp autumn days and the golden harvest brought Pumpkinville to life on the Halloran front yard. It became an enduring institution. More than 50 years since that first small "patch," the autumn hills still echo with the laughter of generations of children building their Halloween memories and finding the right "Perky Pumpkin." Who knew that little seed would flourish for so long and touch so many lives?

Retirement to coastal Florida brought travel adventure and new friendships. The Atlantic beach was only a few yards from their home, and long walks by the waves were a tradition. Joe and Helen were always willing to jump in the car and go - Illinois, Virginia, Wisconsin, Washington (state and D.C.), New York and all places in between.

One February they left Buffalo by plane, freezing at minus 20 degrees, to meet family the same day in Hawaii, where it was 80-100 degrees warmer! Helen and Joe were particularly fond of annual family visits for Spring Training baseball in Florida, a later life tradition for kids and grandkids.

With Joe's death some 10 years ago, she moved to Danville's Bowman Estates, developing friends and "family" there, as was her way. Having grown up in the hills, she came to love the Midwestern "big sky" and ever-changing cloud patterns she would enjoy on her daily walks.

Left to carry on Helen's zest for life and love of family are sons, Tom and Dan and their families:

Tom (Darlene), their son, John (Monica); and their girls, Clare and Nora; daughter, Kate (Mike Cox) and their twins, Aidan and Allison and daughter Erin; son, Patrick (Bethany), and daughter Cameron.

Dan (Kari), their daughters, Kelly (Sam); Julia; Katie (Jon) and children Karlee and Landon; Alisa (Matt) and daughter, Riley; and Theresa (Andy) and girls, Emma and Abigail.

Joe rests in the family plot at Holy Cross Cemetery in Ellicottville. Soon they will be holding hands, watching a ball game, all warm sunshine and high blue skies, in the green fields of the mind, safe together and home again.

Sadly, in the era of the coronavirus pandemic, there will be no public services. Please take a moment to reflect on a life well lived, and say a prayer for Helen's enduring legacy, and share an anecdote or memory.

For those who would choose to make a tribute, please find www.warmhugsfromErin.org, founded this troubling year by Helen's 9-year-old great-granddaughter, Erin Cox

Funeral arrangements were entrusted to Sunset Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Danville, Ill., 3940 N Vermilion St. Danville, Illinois 61834.

Please join Helen's family in sharing memories, photos and videos on her tribute wall at www.sunsetfuneralhome.com.