Portland - Helen E. Quirk, 87, passed away on October 12 after an ongoing illness with dementia. She was born to parents Frank and Isabell (Ehrich) Jolly in New York on June 8, 1931. Helen grew up in the Bronx with 5 siblings and attended Cathedral High School. She married Jack Quirk on May 20, 1950. They moved to Massapequa, NY in 1955 and had 5 children together.
In the midst of a February winter blizzard in 1969, they moved to Portland where Jack had taken a new job as a bank auditor. Jack died in July 1971 from cancer. In her true grit and stubborn ways, Helen stayed in Portland and raised her family without any other family nearby. She worked at Unum and then Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine for many years, retiring in 1990. She then worked as a crossing guard in Portland where the young children loved her and would give her gifts of thanks throughout the school year.
In 1976, she bought a house on Great Diamond Island. She and her daughter Lisa would move there the day school got out and would spend the summer, staying until Labor Day. Helen and Lisa would go back and forth to work each day on Helen’s boat for several years until one day Helen fell overboard while rowing the dingy out to her boat. Fortunately someone pulled her out of the water, but that was the last day she used the boat for commuting. After that she would take the ferry each day to work until her retirement. Mom moved to the island each year in the late spring and stayed until early fall. She had many friends there and this became her new “home”. After Janet’s death, two of her grandchildren, Chris and Steven Hatch, lived with her during several summers, working and spending precious time with Grammie. This was one of her favorite times on the island.
She is survived by Robert Quirk and his wife Rosemarie and children William and Marisa of WA; Diane Doane and her daughter Elizabeth of ME, Lisa Boucher and her husband Daniel and children Alexander, Maxwell, and Samuel of ME; brother Michael Brawley of NY; grandchildren Shawn, Meghan, and Sarah Quirk and Christopher and Steven Hatch; 5 great grandchildren, son in law Scott Hatch, and daughter in law Paula Quirk. She was predeceased by her husband Jack, her parents, two children John Quirk and Janet Hatch, a son in law William Doane, a sister, and 3 brothers.
The family would like to invite you to a time of visitation on Monday October 15th from 8:45am to 9:45am followed by a funeral service at 10:00am at Jones, Rich & Barnes Funeral Home, 199 Woodford St, Portland ME. A committal service will be held at a later date at Evergreen Cemetery. You may offer your condolences or share your memories at www.jonesrichandbarnes.com
Donations may be made in Helen's memory to The Kidney Foundation of Maine, 470 Forest Ave, Portland ME 04101
