St. Joseph's Parish Outreach 39 North Carll Avenue Babylon, NY 11702

Long time Babylon Village resident, Helen S. O’Shea died peacefully at Allied Hospice in Pennsylvania on Sunday, March 24, 2019. Born on the Szuster farm in Yapank, NY in 1925, Helen was the seventh of 10 children, and the first in her family to attend college. During WWII she earned her RN at Mount Sinai School of Nursing, graduating first in her class. Given the critical shortage of nurses she went to work in the Operating Rooms of Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, turning down a scholarship to Columbia University. While there she met and fell in love with her husband John V.(Vinnie) O’Shea, Jr. suspending her nursing career and beginning a marriage of 62 years. Together, they raised five children, Vincent, James, Michael, Kevin, and Patricia (Joe Shivock). In 1954 they built a small cottage on Oak Island knowing the family would not be able to take vacations due to her husband’s six day a week schedule operating O’Shea Brothers Meats and Poultry in Babylon Village. For more than 60 summers, the family enjoyed Oak Island from June until September, arriving the day school got out and returning to Babylon on Labor Day. Helen enjoyed teaching her children the necessity of chores, the importance of swimming, the fun of sailing, and the magic of fishing. Later in life, she did it all over again with her grandchildren. Helen was actively involved in the Oak Island community. For years she volunteered as the island’s informal emergency medical provider, freely tending to wounds and providing medical advice. She served on the Board of Directors of the Great South Bay Isles Association, and took great pride in being elected its first women President.

As her family grew older, with some moving on to college, Helen decided to go back to nursing, a job that she truly loved. That decision resulted in a 25 year career in the Operating Rooms of Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip. Countless residents of Babylon, friends and strangers, have recalled that their last recollection of going into surgery, was Helen O’Shea telling them not to worry, that they were in good hands, and that she would take care of them. Through out her life she reflected the basic principles of hard work and the life skills she learned while growing up on a large working farm. She loved to cook and was good at it, much to the benefit of her family, extended family and many friends who enjoyed the meals that came out of her kitchen. She loved to grow things as well, with an unfailing ability to grow vegetable and flower plants in even the smallest of spaces. Helen was pre-deceased by her husband Vinnie in 2011. In addition to her five children, she is survived by six grandchildren, Shaun, Meghan (Spring), Peter Shivock, Christopher Shivock, Sarah Shivock, and Paula Shivock, four great grandchildren, and her sister Fanny Raymond of Yapank. The family will receive guests from 4 PM to 8 PM on Sunday. March 31, at Fredick J. Chapey and Sons Funeral Home, 1225 Montauk Highway, West Islip, NY. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Monday April 1, 9:30 AM at The Church of St. Joseph, 39 North Carll Ave. Babylon, NY, 11702. Internment immediately following at St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Babylon. The O’Shea’s were life long parishioners of St. Joseph’s. The family has identified St. Joseph’s Community Services for those wishing to make a donation in Helen’s memory.