In loving memory of Helena Rodde of Glendora, New Jersey, who went to be with her Lord on October 31, 2020 at the age of 94.

She is predeceased by her mother Rosa, her father Richard, her children, Renata, Yolanda and Peter, her grandson, Robert and her great-great grandson, Ronin-Renee.

She is survived by her children, Erica (Attilio) Summa, Hildegard (Richard) Gaffney, Margot (Edward) Murphy, Irene (Charlie) Burnside, Gertrud (Daryl) Ogden, and Eric Backes.

She is also survived by her grandchildren: Cristina, Anthony, Richard, Brian, Todd, Jason, Shawn, John, Laura, Sandra, Eddie, Caroline, Joseph M., Seamus, Jennifer, Joseph G., Lisa, Trevor, Kieri, and Kurt.

She is also survived by thirty two great grandchildren, and five great-great grandchildren, numerous nieces, nephews and other loved ones in Brazil and the United States of America.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in memory of Helena on Thursday, November 5, 11 AM at St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish, St. John Church, 809 Park Ave., Collingswood, NJ 08108, with Reverend Yvans Jazon presiding.

Interment will follow Mass at St. Joseph's Cemetery in Chews Landing, New Jersey.

All are welcome to join us for a wake at our home, 206 East Front Street, Glendora, NJ, 08029, at 12:30 PM

Helena was born in 1925 and raised in Brazil, of immigrant parents fleeing the post World War One poverty and desolation prevalent in Germany at that time.   Educated in German and her native Portuguese in a Lutheran Boarding school, she received a strong foundational education that served her well in her long life. Early on life had it's challenges, yet Helena's heart remained warm, loving and tender to all she encountered.  She fostered kindness, love and opportunity in all she knew and did.

She was always open to learning, whether from the Japanese and Brazilian farmers or Italian friends who taught her to make bread, in Rio Grande do Sul, to the many chefs she watched on television in the modern era. She was always eager to expand her range of cuisine to cook for her loved ones and theirs'.

Driven by the poverty that drove her parents to immigrate, she then did the same and migrated to the United States at the age of 44, alone, to prepare a home for her six children. She was a devoted mother.   She worked for many years after arriving in Philadelphia and was able to buy her own home after five years in America, a true immigrant's dream.  In 1983, she moved to Glendora, New Jersey,  where she lived with gusto until the her final day, on October 31.   She left a legacy of plantings and love; fruit trees, chestnut trees, countless perennials, a vegetable garden that is, even now, after her 94th summer, producing cool weather greens.   She had many talents, quilting, cooking like a chef, baking and even built a pond after she retired.  She refinished and painted furniture, designed and sewed beautiful quilts and clothes, and knit many a hat and sweater for family and lucky friends.

She respected people making all feel welcomed. She cared deeply for all in her family.   She was easy with her love as it was for others to love her.  Helena was a warrior (guerreira), as our Brazilian cousins would say.  Helena had a deep, quiet, and private faith that was reflected in how she treated others and lived her life. It was in her garden that she was closest to God and in her contemplative moments that she prayed.   She was a person that took pleasure in life even as she sacrificed for others. Helena was kind and generous, even when being most forthright. She never accepted defeat and it showed until the day the angels took her to be with God.

We will miss our warrior, heroine, loving friend and matriarch.  She was an angel amongst us.

Arrangements by the FOSTER-WARNE FUNERAL HOME, Collingswood and Audubon, NJ.