The bus finally came for Helena Josephina Niemiec Medeiros on December 20th, 2022.

Born in New Bedford, MA in 1925, Helen grew up on Ashley Street with her father, Jozef Niemiec, her brother Eddie, and sister Jennie. Helen attended Roosevelt Jr. High and graduated from New Bedford High School in 1943. In her yearbook, she listed her ambition as “To be a success” which one could definitely say she accomplished. After working at the Star Store and Ajax Equipment Co., she went on to work at “the college” (Roger Williams University) and according to her, she saved them hundreds of thousands of dollars by uncovering unnecessary spending. Helen was very good at pointing out unnecessary spending, just ask any repair person that came to her home to fix something.

She met her husband, Edmund Medeiros, at the Polish dance hall in the 1940’s. He wasn’t Polish, but he had a yellow convertible and Helen, always the practical gal, knew that a ride in his car was better than taking the bus. They were married in 1950 and resided in Barrington, RI and then Westport, MA for the remainder of their lives. They bickered for 63 years until Edmund boarded his bus on Valentine’s Day in 2013. Sadly, she is preceded in death by her daughter Karyn Anne Stone, from early onset Alzheimer’s, which broke her heart immeasurably. Most importantly, Helen is looking forward to meeting the mother she lost to a car accident when she was 5 years old. Growing up without a mother was not easy and Helena was excited to finally get to know her.

Left behind is her daughter, Pamela Skammels, son-in-laws, Jack(son) Skammels and Randy Stone, her grandchildren Nicholas Stone, Jessica Skammels and Mia Hardman and husband Christopher Hardman, as well as her great grandchildren, Elliot and Mabel Lussier. Though Ronald Lussier is technically no longer part of the family legally, Helena never stopped treating him like he was and she issued her ruling before she died that we always treat him as such. Mia, Chris and Pamela will miss playing gin rummy with her, even if she was a sneaky cheater. We will all miss her unfounded medical advice, her stories about getting into trouble with Imogene and her well-known catchphrases, such as “Edmund, you’re full of bologna” or “Don’t be foolish”. She was part doctor, lawyer, politician, accountant, and teacher, but above all she was a mom, a Grammy, a sister, a friend, and a daughter. She is irreplaceable.

Helena didn’t want a wake or a funeral, just for us to stand over her grave, place a carnation on the casket, and say a few words, which is what the family did. She was buried at Beech Grove Cemetery in Westport if you’d like to visit. In lieu of flowers, please feel free to visit a Chinese Buffet, have a cup of tea and a little something, cheat during a card game or watch an episode of Dr. Phil at an ear splitting volume. Her daughter, Pamela, will be “throwing everything away” so if anyone is looking for a George Foreman grill, spices that expired in 1996 or a perfectly good shirt from 1985 with shoulder pads, please let the family know or wait for the yard sale. We love you Grammy and wish you well on your journey. 

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