Helen was born in Aurora, I’ll., on September 13, 1924. She was second of Theresa and Dominic Porto’s seven children: Frank, Ralph, Dorothy, Mary Jane, Dominic and Carol. Mary Jane and Dominic, who we all called Dan, are the last of them.
She graduated from Aurora’s West High in 1942. That’s where she met the love of her life, Richard Langford. “I remember he wore a sweater with a big track shoe and a wing on it.”
After serving in the Marines during World War II, Helen and Richard were married in 1947. They moved to Orlando, Fla. in the early ‘60s, partly because it was warmer. Helen never liked the cold.
There, they raised three boys, Richard, Bob and Gary. Now there are five grandchildren: Jane, Alison, Alek, Paige and Nicolas.
Legend has it that Alek took his first steps in their living room, in pretty much the same spot his dad did.
Nothing pleased the two of them more than a visit from the boys. When the car pulled in, Richard would be waiting the in the driveway and Helen would be in the kitchen, usually cooking lasagna. And every time she made it, everyone was required to guess how many meatballs were in each tray. Her record, again, according to legend, was 116.
Along the way, Helen had a few encounters with greatness. She met Lawrence Welk once at a hotel in Chicago. In Orlando, she walked to a theater where Don Amici was performing. They grew up in the same neighborhood in Kenosha, Wisc. and reminisced about the old days for a good ten minutes.
But her best story was the time she was at a Tony Bennet concert a few weeks before her second baby was born. She was standing in the back, so they asked if she wanted a seat near the front. “We were so close I could see he had a hole in the bottom of his shoe. Can you imagine, Tony Bennett with a hole in his shoe?”
No matter her age, Helen loved to dance. Even on her 97the birthday party, when the band started, she couldn’t resist. “Get my walker,” she said. Sure enough, her last video is dancing to the Beach Boys.
While she spent the last years of her life in Georgia, Helen had been a member of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in College Park since 1962. She never missed Mass, even watching it religiously on television when she couldn’t attend in person.
So it’s fitting that her funeral will be Friday, April 1 at 1 pm at St. Charles, 4001 Edgewater Dr. St. Charles was the center of life for the entire family. All three boys graduated from St. Charles Elementary, and then went across the street to Bishop Moore for high school.
She is survived by Richard Langford and Katherine Daniels, Bob Langford and Lisa Jarrell, Gary and Hilary Langford, and five grandchildren. She’ll be buried next to her beloved Richard in Chapel Hill Cemetery, 2400 Harrell Road, in Orlando, around 2:30 pm.
Rest in peace, Mom. You lived a long, healthy and wonderful life.
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