She was a bright and happy child growing up on a farm, first in St Marys New South Wales Australia, where her parents raised chickens and pigs for a living and later in Londonderry New South Wales, where they also had a poultry farm. Helen loved the outdoors, animals, insects and nature and would always look for spider holes on her nature walks. This must have been where her love of spiders originated. Helen also collected stones from the garden and wherever she went in her youth. Her pockets always had stones in them. Her love of travel started with her first overseas family holiday at the age of 9 to visit relatives in Germany. They also visited France and England at the time.
From a young age Helen was always very academic. At her primary school at Londonderry she received dux of grade 6. She commenced high school at the age of 11 at Richmond High. During the next few years she became very interested in agriculture and science. She excelled in all of her academic subjects but throughout her life always remained humble with her achievements. She was very popular at school with her classmates, teachers and peers. Her sense of humour and jokes kept everyone laughing. Furthermore, she would talk to anyone. She was always interested in people and their life and stories.
From her early teens Helen had her own dress sense. She didn’t conform to the latest fashion trends. She didn’t like dresses, makeup, high heels or hairdressers. She loved her jeans and t-shirts. Black and navy were her favourite colours.
After finishing high school Helen spread her wings and moved to Armidale College in New South Wales to further her education. In 1992 she received her first degree in Rural Science, and then went on to do her Masters. The next 6 years Helen decided that Science was what she wanted to do. Opting to do another degree and again graduating with honours in Science.
During her time in Armidale Helen’s love of unusual pets developed. Unable to have dogs or cats at college she chose instead to have tortoises, rats, red back spiders (poisonous) and her beloved tarantula spiders. These pets always sparked lots of conversation with people.
Helen decided in 1993 that overseas is where she could pursue her passion for science and research and where she would have more opportunities, so in 1994, Helen left Australia for the United States to begin study at the University of California, Berkeley.
This was a huge step in her life from the small country college of Armidale in Australia to the University of California, Berkeley, who at that time had 30,000 students, more than the whole population of Armidale still today.
After 2 years researching stem cell and motor neuron disease at Berkeley, Helen was offered her own laboratory in New York and had 4 staff to assist her. During this time in the laboratory she also became a published author, having her own article appear in a science journal. In 2006 Helen decided that she wanted to become a teacher and teach science. She started teaching middle school at Public School 7 in New York City.
Helen’s father, Edmund Sink, passed away June 22, 1999. She is survived by her mother, Monika Sink, and her sister, Julie Weight, niece Katrina and niece Tamara.
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