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Helen Price (Spackman) Wilson, 95, of Tyrone, passed away Friday. She was born in Pittsburgh on the eve of the Great Depression that gripped America. She was the daughter of Wheeler and Ruth Spackman and was known affectionately as Honey to all her friends. She had two siblings: a sister, Marianne McClure; and brother, Sandy Spackman.
Her earliest memories are of her family being lucky to have a place to live, all in one room in an uncle's house in Pittsburgh. After years of her father looking for work around the country, one of her happiest childhood memories was for the family to receive train tickets in the mail from her father in 1936 so her family could move to Yonkers, N.Y., where her father had found them their own place to live and a job in nearby New York City.
Graduating from Yonkers High School, she then went to LaSalle Junior College, graduating in 1951. She started her career at Arnold Constable, a large New York department store chain, where she was rapidly promoted from stock person to buyer, to floor manager and then personnel director.
Her brother, Sandy, introduced her to his prep school roommate, George C. Wilson III, known as GC. They married in 1952 and off she went to Tyrone for the rest of her life. Here she formed deep and lasting friendships that lasted more than 60 years. They had four children: George IV, Chris, Mark and Wendy. She was greatly loved by her children's spouses: Judy Wilson, Wanda Wilson and Jim Miller.
After the death of her husband, GC, in 1986, Honey began the next part of her life's journey by going to work as a paraprofessional in the Tyrone school system. She helped develop curriculum and teach reading skills to thousands of children over the next 20 years, until a stroke forced her to retire at the age of 78.
Immediately after her stroke, she was unable to walk, speak or read. Never complaining, with fierce determination and grace, she willed and worked her way back to health. She continued to live a fully independent life until she died.
She was also blessed to have three grandchildren: Michele Miller, Jonathan Wilson and James Wilson; and six great-grandchildren: Christopher Robert Jr., Brodie James, Ace Anderson, Dean Edward Thomas Calnan and Emmett Verrazano and Rhys Russell Wilson. She also had a special relationship with Caleb Hammond, who called her Nana Honey. What joy she brought to their lives, always on the floor playing all sorts of games with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Honey was always a giver, active in many charitable areas to help keep Tyrone a great place to live and raise a family. Her positions included leading the Young Women's Club of Tyrone, YMCA board member, Main Street board member and a volunteer for Meals on Wheels for many years. Trinity Episcopal Church was a central part of her life. She served as a Sunday school teacher, head of the Church Women's Auxiliary, as well as a member vestry for many years.
Honey was the spouse and mom that everyone wishes was theirs, always looking for the best in people and in life, always with positive energy. She was the glue that made her husband's many business ventures hum. She had a never-ending wonderment in the beauty of the world we live in. An amazing wife, mother, friend, grandmother and great-grandmother, the most important thing in her life was her family. She will always be greatly missed.
Services will be private.
Arrangements are by Richard H. Searer Funeral Home Inc., Tyrone.
In her memory, gifts can be made to Trinity Episcopal Church in Tyrone.
searerfuneralhomeinc.com