Helena Ahia Lubin

Helena A. Lubin, 83, passed away at home in Washington, on October 28, 2026. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, she graduated from Sacred Hearts Academy in 1960. In the 1960s she worked in the Waikiki office of Matson Cruise Ships, and in the 1970s she worked for the Hawaii State Senate and the Hawaii Commission on the Status of Women. In the 1980s she worked as an escrow processor.

A Christian first and a Catholic by tradition, she found strength in her faith and was a Third Order Franciscan and a Third Order Carmelite. She was a member of Holy Family Parish in Kirkland, Washington, since the 1980s.

Nothing made her happier than a cruise. She sailed on at least 16 in her lifetime, and the Alaska coast was her favorite voyage.

She is survived by her sons, James (Jim) and Joseph (his wife, Tonya) Lubin; her granddaughter, Petra, to whom she was a loving Oma; and her sister, Aileen. As an aunt, she loved her nieces and nephew, and their children and grandchildren, as her own. She was preceded in death by her sister, Wendy.

For more than three decades, caring for her son Jim at home was Helena's full-time labor of love. Jim has lived with quadriplegia since a severe attack of transverse myelitis at age 21, and her devoted care made it possible for him to do all that he accomplished.

No services will be held.

The family requests memorial donations to the James T. Lubin Clinician Scientist Fellowship of the Siegel Rare Neuroimmune Association (SRNA). Gifts may be made at http://wearesrna.org/donate. Please designate the James T. Lubin Fellowship and note that the gift is in memory of Helena A. Lubin.

Family and friends are invited to share memories of Helena on this page.