Helen Denistran, Faithful St. Thomas Parishioner, Dies at 87

Oak Ridge resident Helen Denistran died at her home Dec. 4, according to a notice on the website of Stickle-Soltesz Funeral Home. She was 87 years old.

The Passaic native lived in Jefferson Township for the last 15 years of her life, having raised her family in Garfield. She married Michael Denistran in 1946 and worked as a key punch operator for Hoffmann-LaRoche in Nutley until 1952, when she devoted herself to motherhood. 

Denistran belonged to St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Oak Ridge. Her family said she will be remembered most for her love of reading, her devotion to her family and to her cat, Missy.

She is survived by children Patricia and Bill Horwitz of Oak Ridge and Kathy and Dennis Golden of Vernon Twp; granddaughter Sarah Jean Horwitz of Malden, Mass.; and several nieces and nephews.

Arrangements were managed by the Stickle-Soltesz Funeral Home in Newfoundland. She was interred beside her husband in St. Michael’s Cemetery in South Hackensack. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made in Helen Denistran's name to: American Cancer Society, PO Box 22718, Oklahoma City, OK 73123-1718 or to: ASPCA, c/o Linda Tiramani, 520 8th Avenue, 7th Floor, NYC, N.Y., 10018