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03/25/2013 11:00 AM

Helen L. Warren, 99, Essex


Helen L. Warren, 99, died on March 15 at the Essex Meadows Health Center in Essex. Helen was born Helen Lynch in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, on July 3, 1913, one of three daughters born to the late Francis J. Lynch and Mary Louise (Warnock) Lynch. Her mother died in 1916, when she was three years old, and Helen was thereafter raised in Saint John by her father and two aunts, Ellen J. Lynch and M. Josephine Lynch.

Helen graduated from St. Vincent’s High School and attended nursing school in Saint John, becoming a registered nurse in the mid 1930s.  She thereafter worked at Saint John General Hospital until 1938, when she moved to the United States to work as a nurse at the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. At that time, she took courses at Columbia University.  Subsequently, she worked as a nurse at the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children in Springfield, Massachusetts, and then returned to New York City to work at New York Orthopedic Hospital.

Helen became a U.S. Citizen in 1945 and married John D. Warren, an investment banker, in 1948. The couple lived in New York City and in Lyme, Connecticut, until 1971. While living in New York, Helen engaged in various charitable activities and served as the president of the Lincoln Fund, a small philanthropic foundation that gave grants to community organizations in the City.

In 1975, her husband Jack died, and Helen began residing full time in a residence on River Road in Essex that she and her husband had purchased in 1971. As a resident in Essex, she was on the Board of the Essex Library Association and was an active member of the Essex Library Book Selection Committee. In 1994, she moved into the Essex Meadows Community and lived there for 19 years until her death.

She is survived by her son Thomas D. Warren and her daughter-in-law Carol G. Warren, both of Brunswick, Maine, as well as her grandson Andrew D. Warren, who currently attends Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.

A memorial service will be held in Hamilton Hall at Essex Meadows, 30 Bokum Rd., Essex, on April 14, at 2 p.m. Burial will take place in Buffalo, New York, in July.  In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in her name to the Essex Library Association, 33 West Ave., Essex, CT 06426. The Robinson, Wright & Weymer Funeral Home, Centerbrook, is in charge of arrangements. To share a memory of Helen or to leave condolences for her family, please visit www.rwwfh.com.