An extraordinary elementary teacher who immersed her students in the arts
READING — Helena Valente, of Reading, passed away unexpectedly on July 17, 2021, at the age of 91. She was pre-deceased by her parents, Gabriel and Nancy Valente, and her younger brother Armand.
She was raised in Malden and upon graduation from high school, obtained a bachelor’s degree in education, a feat she was very proud of, as most women at that time were not encouraged to attend college. She credited her father, with his full support and encouragement, to pursue her desire to further her education.
After college, she met and fell in love with Robert Stern, of New York. They married and had two children, Nancy (Stern-Paulenka)…author of this obituary, and Mark (Stern). The family lived in New York for a couple of years before finally settling in North Reading, Mass., where she spent the majority of her adult life, while raising her children.
Growing up in a loving, but strict Catholic household and attending parochial school, she was very sheltered in many ways. Her husband and children were very much the opposite, and so she learned to love the things she hadn’t experienced growing up. With family and friends over the course of her adult life, she hiked, canoed, skied, traveled, attended Red Sox games, went to the theater and museums; she enjoyed life to the fullest.
Her main love in life, aside from her family, was teaching. She taught in the North Reading elementary school system and was an extraordinary teacher. She often took the most challenging children and found new and creative ways to help them learn. With chaperones, she took her students to Red Sox games, the Nutcracker Suite and the theater, museums and other events, and engaged them to learn to be the best they could be. She designed and implemented an award-winning fine arts program in her classroom, introducing her students to artists such as Van Gogh and Monet, and utilized a hands on approach rich with media and culminating with a trip to the Fine Arts museum in Boston. She was well loved by her students and parents alike. Many credited her with having a significant positive impact on the direction they chose to pursue in life and she stayed in touch with several of her students as adults, even attended the wedding of one.
Helena’s family meant everything to her. In addition to her children, she was especially close to her two nieces, Linda and Patricia, her nephew Paul, her sister-in-law Lena (deceased), and many other relatives in her large Italian family. She had six grandchildren whom she truly loved and spent a great deal of time with as children: Clinton, Joseph, Jonathan, Christian, Cliff and Jakob. She especially enjoyed the stories about Joseph, my autistic child, and the things he would say. After she died, Joseph asked in all his innocence, if we could bury her next to the pretty flowers in the garden. While some might not find humor in that, I’m sure my mom smiled in heaven when she heard it.
She would want me to tell her many friends, who played such an important part in her life, that she enjoyed and valued the time she was able to spend with them over the years. To Molly, her best friend of decades; Donna, who was like a sister to her; Kay (deceased), a very close friend for many years; Phil, who made her laugh and kept her well fed; and “numerous” other good friends in her life…she wouldn’t want you to be sad and would tell you instead to remember all the good times you had together.
Although my mother went to funeral homes to pay her respects, she became too distressed to go into the actual “wake” setting. She was therefore adamant about not wanting a wake for herself, or a funeral. It brought a big smile to her face however, when we discussed her family and friends gathering together to celebrate her life and reminisce about happy times. Therefore, a location and time will be arranged in the next month or two, and published in the North Reading Transcript for those wishing to attend.
The one place my mom loved above almost any other was the ocean. She would sit and walk by the shore for hours. It always brought her such an inner peace. Her ashes will be scattered offshore into the ocean, as she requested.
A memorial scholarship fund is being set up by long term friend and colleague, Donna Prentiss. Please send contributions to Donna Prentiss, 314 Park St, North Reading, MA 01864 or Linda Traino (niece), 10 Susan Dr., North Reading, MA 01864. In the memo area, please write Scholarship/ Valente.
We all love you mom and you will be greatly missed.
