Helen Swinarski, 94, of Toms River, NJ passed away peacefully on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 at Community Medical Center, Toms River, NJ. Born in Simpson, PA.,. where she graduated from Fell High School and received her Associates degree from Penn State. Helen then moved to East Orange and started her family and worked at Travelers Insurance. She was a Ward Clerk with Bayshore Hospital when she moved to Hazlet and finally retired to Toms River in 1985.
"My doors are always open" - is the catch phrase she would always say that embodies who Helen Swinarski was.
She was a woman who loved, with a passion, her family. She adored spending time with her late husband, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and all she called family and friends. She was a quiet woman in a home of volume but do not let that demeanor fool you- besides her baking well known for cookies and cheesecake, crafting and volunteering she had a zest for life. Helen enjoyed being out and about including times at the beach, Atlantic City, HCS Community pool, traveling and out to dinner whenever the opportunity came about. She loved getting dressed for an occasion and always looked terrific even up to her most recent family gathering just a couple weeks before her passing. Her words while soft were always caring and loving. You knew you always had her support, strength and guidance to rely upon.
Her door may have always been open but so too was her heart. We will all miss that tender caring heart the one that was at the center of it all.
Helen was predeceased by her husband Stephen in 2000 as well as her siblings; brother Michael Puchak, sisters, Ann Swinarski and Mary Puchak. She is survived by her three loving children; James Swinarski and his wife Carole, Donald Swinarski and his wife Diana, Nancy Swinarski, her five grandchildren; James, Colleen, Patrick, Christopher and Suzanne. Also surviving are her seven great grandchildren, Angelo, Wes, Donovan, Adaline, Maeve, Amelia and Dimitri.
Visitation will be held on Tuesday, April 23, 2024 from 4-8 pm at the Quinn-Hopping Funeral Home, 26 Mule Rd., Toms River. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday, April 24, 2024 10:00 am at St. Maximilian Kolbe RC Church, Toms River with entombment to follow to Ocean County Memorial Park, Toms River.
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