Obituary for Helen Dora Austen ( Holowick)
May 9, 1927 - Jan. 7, 2020
The former assistant director of St. Leonard’s halfway house for ex-convicts, Helen was the last survivor of the seven Holowick sisters from Dauphin, Manitoba, born to Michael and Dora (née Todas) Holowick. Her parents both immigrated from what is now Ukraine. She was predeceased last year by her sister Frances and earlier by her sisters Leona Lukaniuk, Lillian, Mary Bailey, Margaret Roache and Pat Pracey.
She is survived by two sons, Ian (Sally Coutts) of Ottawa and Brian (Denise), as well as five grandchildren: Cara Austen, Adam Austen, Timothy Austen, Danielle Feltham and Miranda Van Velzen. She also had five great grandchildren.
When she was a young teenager in 1941, Helen boarded a train in Dauphin with her mother, her sister Fran and a sack of sandwiches to join some of the other sisters who had found work in Windsor. After the Second World War, her first job was at the International Playing Card company, a position that mixed work with her lifelong passion for card games, ideally ones involving petty gambling.
Not long after the war ended, she met and married Ronald B. Austen Jr., a Royal Canadian Air Force veteran who became a chartered accountant. In the early 1950s they moved to the South Windsor home where Helen lived until her death.
While Ron and Helen separated in 1968 and later divorced, they remained friends.
She joined the staff at St. Leonard’s House in the early ‘70s and remained there until retirement in 1992. Her duties included doing regular tours of Ontario’s penitentiaries to interview potential residents.
Helen was always curious about the world and new ideas. When she was well into middle age, she graduated with an arts degree from the University of Windsor. She traveled to the Soviet Union long before anyone foresaw its demise and to China in advance of its recent economic transformation. More recently, despite blindness, she enjoyed books, in audio form. She kept a close watch on current events.
Her nieces and nephews, their children and grandchildren were an important part of Helen’s life.
Cottaging along the Lake Erie shoreline in and around Colchester became something of a family tradition. She perpetuated the custom by buying the third in a series of Holowick-related cottages during the 1970s. It remains within the family.
Donations in Helen’s memory can be made to The Downtown Mission of Windsor, www.downtownmission.com
Because of the current pandemic restrictions, there will be a private burial. A celebration of Helen’s life will be announced when such gatherings are again possible.
A private family service was held with an interment at Victoria Memorial Gardens Cemetery. Arrangements entrusted to Families First, 3260 Dougall Ave., South Windsor, 519-969-5841
The former assistant director of St. Leonard’s halfway house for ex-convicts, Helen was the last survivor of the seven Holowick sisters from Dauphin, Manitoba, born to Michael and Dora (née Todas) Holowick. Her parents both immigrated from what is now Ukraine. She was predeceased last year by her sister Frances and earlier by her sisters Leona Lukaniuk, Lillian, Mary Bailey, Margaret Roache and Pat Pracey.
She is survived by two sons, Ian (Sally Coutts) of Ottawa and Brian (Denise), as well as five grandchildren: Cara Austen, Adam Austen, Timothy Austen, Danielle Feltham and Miranda Van Velzen. She also had five great grandchildren.
When she was a young teenager in 1941, Helen boarded a train in Dauphin with her mother, her sister Fran and a sack of sandwiches to join some of the other sisters who had found work in Windsor. After the Second World War, her first job was at the International Playing Card company, a position that mixed work with her lifelong passion for card games, ideally ones involving petty gambling.
Not long after the war ended, she met and married Ronald B. Austen Jr., a Royal Canadian Air Force veteran who became a chartered accountant. In the early 1950s they moved to the South Windsor home where Helen lived until her death.
While Ron and Helen separated in 1968 and later divorced, they remained friends.
She joined the staff at St. Leonard’s House in the early ‘70s and remained there until retirement in 1992. Her duties included doing regular tours of Ontario’s penitentiaries to interview potential residents.
Helen was always curious about the world and new ideas. When she was well into middle age, she graduated with an arts degree from the University of Windsor. She traveled to the Soviet Union long before anyone foresaw its demise and to China in advance of its recent economic transformation. More recently, despite blindness, she enjoyed books, in audio form. She kept a close watch on current events.
Her nieces and nephews, their children and grandchildren were an important part of Helen’s life.
Cottaging along the Lake Erie shoreline in and around Colchester became something of a family tradition. She perpetuated the custom by buying the third in a series of Holowick-related cottages during the 1970s. It remains within the family.
Donations in Helen’s memory can be made to The Downtown Mission of Windsor, www.downtownmission.com
Because of the current pandemic restrictions, there will be a private burial. A celebration of Helen’s life will be announced when such gatherings are again possible.
A private family service was held with an interment at Victoria Memorial Gardens Cemetery. Arrangements entrusted to Families First, 3260 Dougall Ave., South Windsor, 519-969-5841