Greenpoint Centenarian “Big Helen” Sieczkowski Passed Away January 2nd – OBITUARY

By Michael Kawochka

GREENPOINT – Greenpoint centenarian “Big Helen” Sieczkowski passed away January 2, 2019.  She was the oldest living person on Jewel Street. Widow to Stanley “Chick” Sieczkowski, sister of the late Regina Klembicki, she is survived by her little sister Irene Grecula (age 99); daughter Alicia Kawochka, son Thomas; grandchildren Michael Kawochka and Natasha Phair, step-granddaughters Karen McCabe Nieves and Dawn McCabe Kuzma and four great-granddaughters: Ava, Estee, and Macie Phair and namesake “Little Helen” Kawochka; and beloved nieces, nephews and cousins.

She passed away one day and 10 minutes shy of her 101st birthday.

Wake to be held at Evergreen Funeral Home January 6th (2-5pm, 7-9pm).

Funeral 11am Monday, January 7th at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, burial immediately following at Calvary Cemetery.

Born on Bayard Street in 1918, ten months before the conclusion of World War I, Big Helen earned the honorific when her great-granddaughter Little Helen was born in 2016.

While she did not wander far, this Greenpoint native put down deep roots instead: she is an alumnus and parishioner of St. Stan’s, where she was baptized, educated and married.  She was a lifelong polka music and dance enthusiast and devotee of the Jimmy Sturr Band, voracious reader (Daily News, cover to cover every day starting with the crime blotter and the coupon section), and dexterous sewer.  Her long life is attributed to her steady diet of babka and kielbasa.

She was a supporter of the Pulaski Association, the St. Stan’s Golden Age Club and the Greenpoint YMCA.  In lieu of flowers, consider a contribution to the Greenpoint YMCA in her memory.