Helen Marie McCarthy Thompson Sullivan, 93, died peacefully on Jan. 17, 2024 in Tustin, California. She was born on Jan. 22, 1930, in New Haven, to Charles McCarthy and Annabelle Lawlor.

Helen grew up in Fair Haven in a house full of love and children. She had four brothers: Charles, James “Mac,” John “Jack” and Donald) and three sisters, Estelle McCarthy, Doris Pfeiffer, and Mary “Betty” Keating.

Even after they all moved away from Fair Haven and settled in other parts of southern Connecticut, the McCarthy clan remained close, spending holiday gatherings together with their ever-expanding families. The brothers and sisters, along with their spouses, would always end the evening gathered together to share their love of stories and songs, singing and laughing well into the night.

Helen graduated from St. Rose’s High School and went on to work as a bookkeeper at Geometric Tool Co. It was there that she met Harry Thompson, an aspiring metallurgist. They would marry in 1952 and move to Branford, where they would have five children starting with Elizabeth Thompson Lloyd (Rick Lloyd), Kenneth Thompson (Rita Thompson), David Thompson (Liana Thompson), Harry Thompson (Joy Thompson), and Barbara Mills (Tom Mills).

In addition to supporting her children’s interests by driving them to various school and athletic activities and serving as a chaperone to various school trips and functions, Helen was actively involved in local politics, serving as a registrar with the League of Women Voters. She was also an avid bowler and loved to play lawn jarts in local leagues.

After her husband Harry passed away on Dec. 4, 1977, Helen returned to the workforce as a bookkeeper, in addition to being there for all of her children, including the ones who had moved away from home. She married Thomas Sullivan in 1979. They moved to Northport, Florida, in 1989, where they lived until Tom passed away in 1994. Together, they would spend hours walking Florida’s sandy beaches looking for shells and shark teeth. They also became avid collectors, Tom with baseball cards and Helen with Beanie Babies.

Helen remained in Northport for several years, taking care of her older neighbors and spending time entertaining her children and grandchildren, who loved to visit and play in her pool. She especially cherished when her sisters Betty (along with her husband Jim) and Doris would escape the New England winters and spend months together in Florida shopping, going to lunch, and watching Turner Classic Movies after dinner.

Helen moved to Santa Ana, California, in 2011, where she first lived with her daughter Elizabeth before taking up residency at Town and Country Assisted Living. She loved to go to lunch with her daughters and her niece, Marie McCarthy. In her later years, she moved into Living the Dream Care Home, where she would sit outside and enjoy the sunshine as she watched planes fly overhead on their way to John Wayne Airport.

In addition to her five children and her brother Donald, Helen is survived by nine grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, and multiple nieces and nephews.

Helen will be buried alongside her first husband, Harry, at St. Agnes Cemetery in Branford, with her children and members of her family, including her brother Don, there to say goodbye.