Helene Mary Rossner

Helene Mary Rossner

WESTERLO — Dancing, stylish clothes, and slot machines were all part of Helene Rossner’s fun, but what she ultimately lived for was people, as a mother, grandmother, and wife, and as a nurse who finished her career surveying assisted-living facilities across the state.

Helene Mary Rossner died of cancer on Tuesday, April 14, 2015, after a brief stay at St. Peter’s Hospice in Albany. She was 64.

For her mourners, she asked them to be kind and request others to do the same.

Mrs. Rossner was born in Newburgh, in Orange County, on March 29, 1951. She was the daughter of the late Francis and Rose Magier. She was a devoted daughter who was loved by her parents and her brother, Francis.

Her father was from Poland, having escaped Europe as a child during wartime; he built his own house near Newburgh. There, he met his wife, who came from a strict Italian family; she was working in a hat factory, Mrs. Rossner’s husband, Michael Rossner, said.

When Mrs. Rossner was in the seventh grade, Michael Rossner, then a ninth-grader in Wallkill High School, saw her as she stepped onto his school bus. He told his brother that he would marry her and did so almost a decade later. The union lasted 43 years, ending only with her death.

Mrs. Rossner graduated from Wallkill High School in 1969.

“Helene was married on Dec. 3, 1971 in Albany and again on April 16, 1972 in Newburgh to the same ‘unbelievable’ man and she happily shared more than 43 years with her loving and devoted husband, Michael C. Rossner,” her family wrote in a tribute.

“I was probably the only guy on my ship. I wrote my wife 303 letters, every day that I was gone,” said Mr. Rossner of his military service. Asked about the two marriage ceremonies, Mr. Rossner explained they wanted to make love when he returned from overseas, but, as lifelong Catholics, they wanted to marry first, so they were united in front of a judge in Albany before their marriage in a church just a few months later.

“That’s the reason we got married — because we didn’t want to have in our heads, in our church, it was a sin,” he said.

Mrs. Rossner was a long-time communicant of St. Matthews Catholic Church in Voorheesville, and St. John’s in Greenville.

She graduated from Albany Nursing School in 1973 and was a registered nurse for 41 years. In 2000, she got her bachelor’s degree in nursing from State University of New York Institute of Technology at Utica-Rome.

“She was an incredible nurse — always a caregiver and intuitively nurturing,” her family wrote. A lifetime of dedicated and passionate work in health care — included being a director of an assisted-living facility and a surveyor from the state’s Department of Health.

Mrs. Rossner loved to travel; spend time with her husband, children and grandchildren; read, and, later in life, to gamble. She made quite a few deposits and was a gracious benefactor for many a slot machine at various casinos across the country and on the Caribbean island of St. Maartens.

“Helene was known for being a ‘classy and sassy’ lady with her ‘Bad Momma’ license plate on her red sports car,” her family wrote. “She was an advocate for human beings and tried to help those that she could while she was here, doing random acts of kindness.”

Mr. Rossner compared their marriage to being in a movie. He said they enjoyed their time alone together, traveling to faraway places for themselves. And Mrs. Rossner liked to go out for an evening, dressing in trendy clothes bought by her husband, in a style he called “classy.”

“If music came on at a wedding, we were the first couple on the floor,” he said, adding that they won several local dance competitions.

“Her three adult children feel incredibly blessed to have the privilege of being raised by such an incredible woman,” her family wrote. “She was ‘the best’ and their angel on earth. She embodied all the characteristics of what a loving and caring wife and mother should be — a kind, unselfish, protective, giving, listening, and caring woman who guided her family with faith and unconditional love.” Her family report she went by several nicknames in her family: “Helene!; Hel; Ma; Mom; Ma-Dukes; Chemo Chick; Rad Chick; and, her recent favorite, Mi-Mi, used by her awesome grandchildren, whom she loved ‘to the moon and back!’”

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Helene Mary Rossner is survived by her husband, Michael Rossner; her children, Heath Rossner of Slingerlands, Luke Rossner and his partner, Erika Zalucki, of North Greenbush, Kristy Hood and her husband, Chris, of Rotterdam; and her grandchildren, Kira Rose Hood, Logan Christopher Hood, Gracie Abigail Merrill, and Hunter Joseph Rossner.

She is also survived by her brother, Francis Magier and his wife, Genna, of Wallkill; her sisters-in-law, Kathleen Doelling and her husband, Bill, of Dennis, Massachusetts, Cecilia Stemmler and her husband, Wolfgang, of Chatham, New Jersey, Mary Ellen Gallagher of West Haven, Connecticut, and Therese Luongo and her husband, Tony, of Oxford, Connecticut; her brothers-in-law, Timothy Rossner and his wife, Louise, of Middleburgh, and Frank Rossner and his wife, Marty, of Altamont; her 26 nieces and nephews; and her 32 grand-nieces and grand-nephews.

Her family thanks all other family, friends, and co-workers who supported and loved Helene in her life and through her illness — the cards, thoughts, prayers, acts of kindness, and generosity are greatly appreciated, “more than you will ever know!” the family wrote. They also thank the staff at New York Oncology Hemotology, Mrs. Rossner’s medical staff and caregivers, the American Cancer Society Hope Club, and all the members of the “Living with Cancer” support group. “She felt so blessed to be so loved,” her family wrote.

Calling hours will be held Thursday, April 16, from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 6 to 9 p.m. at the A. J. Cunningham Funeral Home at 4898 Route 81 in Greenville.

A funeral mass will be held on Friday, April 17, at 11 a.m. at St. John the Baptist Church, 4987 State 81 in Greenville, with burial to follow in the Hannacroix Rural Cemetery.

Mourners may go online to ajcunninghamfh.com.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society Hope Club, One Penny Lane, Latham, NY 12110, “and/or please perform a random act of kindness for someone who needs it in Helene’s name,” the family wrote. “Thank you for helping and for thinking of others as you honor Helene and her wonderful life!”

— Marcello Iaia

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