Helen Marie Robinson

Helen Marie Robinson of Youngsville, North Carolina passed away on April 12, 2025 at the age of 89. She was born on 11/16/35 in Manhattan, New York where she grew up as an immigrant daughter to Estelle Reid who raised both her and her brother Walter Reid as a single parent mother.

She graduated from Julia Ward High School in 1950 in New York City.

She worked as a secretary for the City of New York for 25 years before she retired. She subsequently spent time working for the VAMC of Syracuse, New York as a ward secretary before relocating to Smithfield, North Carolina for a better quality of life. As a new resident of North Carolina, she worked as a ward secretary for a local nursing home before working for Wake Medical as a medical transcriptionist before WakeMed downsized its transcriptionist in the age of dragon dictation capabilities. In order to make ends meet she worked for various temp agencies where she worked in various roles including UNC for cafeteria detail. She most recently worked as a school crossing guard before she fell in the parking lot on her way to work. After that fall unfortunately her health continued to decline which coincided with her daughters relocation to North Carolina where she played a more hands on role in maintaining her health as a caregiver. While in North Carolina she was hands on with her grandchildren and loved visiting them when they relocated to the state of New York.

She was actively involved in her Catholic Church including just recently the Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral.

She is survived by her ​only child and daughter Danielle Kwakye-Berko, and grandchildren Afua and Kwadwo Kwakye-Berko . ​

If there was a word that could encapsulate Helen Robinson’s life it was her resilience and determination as a divorced single parent, and double breast cancer survivor. She worked as many as 2-3 times simultaneously to keep a roof over her and her daughters head and along the way instilled in her daughter the importance of pursuit of education and made time out of her demanding work schedule to take her to activities that would encourage her daughters interest in science and math. She continued to inspire her daughter sending her pictures of catholic relics when she visited Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral until she could no longer drive. In addition, she would share biblical verses with her daughter to encourage her daily until she no longer had the mental capacity to do so.

The family would like to thank all in attendance today including her WakeMed family that she spoke fondly of often, her school crossing guard family and local friends in the community including Donna, Vic and Scott Richardson. We would also like to thank administrators, nurse practitioner Ester, nursing staff, nursing aides, and roommate Denise (who was her daughters eyes and ears) at the Franklin Oaks nursing home where she spent her remaining days until her passing. I would also like to give a special thank you to her physician, Dr. Atree for his care and compassion for Helen for a period of 20 years . Thanks also to my friends and family/work family in attendance today either physically or virtually.

A memorial service for Helen was held Wednesday, April 23, 2025 in the Chapel of Mitchell Funeral Home at Raleigh Memorial Park, 7209 Glenwood Ave, Raleigh, NC 27612.

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