Windsor, VT – Helen Hannah George, 94, a lifelong and beloved Windsor community member died peacefully surrounded with love on Friday morning, March 22nd, 2024, at the Stoughton House in Windsor, VT.

Helen was born in Brownsville on January 29, 1930, to William and Alice (Larkin) Hannah; she helped her father deliver milk door to door in the mornings before school and was a member of the 1948 graduating class at Windsor High School. She graduated from the Burbank Hospital School of Nursing in Fitchburg, MA in 1951 and shortly after married Arnold George on June 25, 1951.

Helen's attribute as a selfless caregiver was reflected in everything that she did, including her more than four-decade nursing career as an RN.  Beginning at the VA Hospital in White River Junction, through private practice with Dr. Waterman in Windsor and as a visiting nurse in Windsor County as well as in Sullivan County in NH, and at both the former and current hospitals in Windsor. Even after she retired from nursing, she continued volunteering at Mt. Ascutney Hospital well into her 80s.

Helen fully adored and supported her family. Every holiday, family reunion, and gatherings were treasured moments. The family camp in Craftsbury, VT was a special place filled with generational memories, from her honeymoon with Arnold to sharing the camp with children and grandchildren as they grew up. As a young family, they also vacationed every year with their good friends Joyce and David Pierce and daughter Amy in Maine. Later, she was accompanied by various family members on trips all over the world, including Scotland and Ireland, Arizona, a trip to Disney World where she rode Thunder Mountain Railroad rollercoaster (no one quite remembers how she was talked into that one), Puerto Rico, Cape Cod, a Caribbean cruise, Nashville and of course many trips back to the Maine coast. But she was always happy to come back home to Windsor and see Mt. Ascutney, her mountain. She hiked to the Brownsville Rock, with very little assistance, from the top parking lot of the mountain when she was 86 years young.  She loved the view of her birth town of Brownsville from this location on the mountain.

She never missed an opportunity to attend her sons' and grandchildren's activities and games, simultaneously fearful of their safety and thrilled with their achievements. All her family will dearly miss the voicemails and phone calls beginning with a cheery: "Hi, it's Mom!" or "Hi, it's Gram!"

Helen was fully engaged with her home community of Windsor and her Faith community at St. Francis of Assisi Church, where she was a long-time lecturer and Eucharistic Minister.  But her seemingly tireless passion for correspondence expanded her community to anywhere that the postal service carried her letters.  The joke was that she kept the post office in business all on her own.  She sent notes, cards, newspaper clippings and letters daily, fostering relationships with people she knew well and with some she had never met or had met only briefly, becoming friends through the almost lost art of handwritten correspondence.  She also learned to use an iPad in the past 10 years that she would use regularly to keep in touch with all the family and close friends.  Helen had a passion for reading, and routinely had several books going at once, as well as the daily newspaper. She loved collecting purses and bags with various designs and patterns and would use several bags for packing on her trips to camp and Maine instead of using just one standard suitcase! She also collected many restaurant menus to have as keepsakes.  She was a collector of old lamps given to her and Arnold by her father.  She never failed to walk over to a lamp wherever she was and make sure it was turned ON.

She is survived by her three sons: Stephen and wife Holly of Quechee, Mark and wife Colleen of Windsor, and Michael and wife Denise of Brownsville; seven grandchildren: Matthew (and wife Sarah), Sarah (and partner Judy), Bailey (and husband Joe), Clay (and partner Linsi), Justin (and wife Jessamyn), Hannah (and husband Matt), and Emily; nine great grandchildren: Ian, Ava, Brady, Marley, Brinley, Aggie, Saylor, Soren, and Iris; as well as daughter-in-law Cassie George, cousins, nieces and nephews, other relatives and so many dear friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband Arnold on March 17th in 2010 and sister Jo Ann Stacy in 1994.

Along with the fine care she received from Dartmouth Hitchcock and Mt Ascutney Hospitals, she was also briefly at the Gill House in Ludlow.  But she wanted to come 'home' to Windsor to be closer to family and friends who she loved so much.  She found her home at the Stoughton House to be the place she wanted to be.  She loved all the people there and they loved her too.  The family would like to thank the entire staff and the residents for their love and care that made this House a Home.

Also, thank you to her Parrish Family and dear friends that supported her, as well as our family, through many visits and constant prayer.

Visitation will be held on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Knight Funeral Home in Windsor, VT from 5 until 7 pm.  A graveside service at St. Francis Cemetery will be held at a later date. Memorial donations are appreciated to St. Francis of Assisi Church in Windsor or the Historic Homes of Runnemede (Stoughton House).