Obituary: Helen Plavcan Dlugos, Age 94

Helen C. Plavcan Dlugos, 94, of Stratford, passed away Tuesday, January 8, 2013, at Bridgeport Hospital after a short illness.

Helen was born in Stratford on September 14, 1918, the daughter of the late George and Elizabeth Heigel Plavcan. She attended local schools and graduated from Harding High School.

Helen was married to Joseph C. Dlugos for 35 wonderful years. Helen and Joe enjoyed many years together and spent much time with their large families of brothers and sisters. They especially enjoyed dancing together as well as skating on the ice at Beardsley Park in the wintertime. Anyone who ever saw them gliding gracefully together would think of Fred and Ginger.

As a young woman, Helen worked for a while at a local company but then dedicated her life to raising her family. She was especially devoted to her husband, children, and family, but especially to her church, Sts. Cyril and Methodius, where she was a lifelong devout member.

After her husband died at the early age of 62, Helen devoted herself to maintaining her contacts with the family. In addition to those activities, she became even more active in her church and held many various positions in Our Lady’s Guild. She also served as the organizer of travel excursions for her group to visit such places as Rome, Lourdes, and Fatima. She arranged many trips in the United States, even managing to visit New Orleans one time. She was especially fond of organizing dinner theatre trips to see musical performances in Westchester, NY.

As family members aged, Helen became increasingly a caregiver to several of her older relatives. She derived much satisfaction from helping them in their need. Helen used to enjoy very much going out with “the girls” on Sunday afternoons to see movies and then go out for a bite to eat. As these friends passed away one by one, Helen found herself turning more inward.

She always was very devout in practicing her religion, but as she got older, she increasingly turned to her strong faith in God for comfort and spiritual sustenance. She attended church up until only a year before her death when climbing up and down the stairs became too much of a challenge for her. Even then she would watch the Mass on television, say her rosary, and recite her daily personal prayers.

Helen is survived by her sons, Joseph G. Dlugos of Stratford, and Richard Dlugos and his partner Gregory Carreira of Durham, and spent most holiday and birthday dinners there with them. She is also survived by her sister, Elizabeth Simpson of South Glastonbury and her cousin, Justine Scherback of Stratford.

She was predeceased by her brother, Edward Plavcan, and her sister, Margaret Norko. Helen leaves behind a very large family of nephews and nieces, including Carole Vercellone of North Haven, Mary Beth DelSole of Wethersfield, Kathy Schacht of Wallingford, Bill Simpson of Granby, Edward Plavcan of Virginia, Barbara Scheerer of Pennsylvania, and Rita Mencel of Stratford, Dan Dlugos of Shelton, Bill Dlugas of Shelton, Butch Dlugas of Texas as well as all their children.

Family was very important to her and we are grateful that this year she was able to attend the traditional Slovak Christmas Eve celebration with her extended family and Christmas Dinner at Richard and Greg’s house in Durham. Richard and Joe would like to express profound gratitude for the fine care that Helen received in her last days from the VITAS hospice staff and all the medical personnel on L10 of Bridgeport Hospital.

This obituary was courtesy of Galello-Luchansky Funeral Home.