Helen Decoma

Helen Agnes DeComa, 90 of Littleton, Colorado passed away on February 19, 2022.

Daughter of Albert Bach and Edith Matthews of Brooklyn, New York, she was the youngest of 6 children: 3 boys and 3 girls.  As you can tell by the date, she grew up during the Great Depression and WWII,  the events that shaped the lives of all children of that time.

As she got older, she would often go out on the weekend with her girlfriends to the local USO club.  Guess what, she met a dashing young man getting ready to leave the Army and start his career in Commercial Aviation.

Helen was a loving and dedicated wife.  Married to her beloved Ron on May 12, 1956 in Brooklyn, New York; she always said she was an “old maid” at the age of 24 (almost 25).  They were married for 45 years until his untimely death in 2001, but she remained married to him in her heart, as she wore his wedding band around her neck until the end, 66 years in her heart.

Their life’s adventure took them out of the city and into the wild west in 1968 to Aurora and Littleton, where she would spend the next 54 years.  While she loved it here, she just was not sure about that smell that wafted east into Aurora from the stockyards that interrupted her ritual of hanging the laundry outside; “Nothing like the smell of fresh sheets off the line.” she would say…except for those stockyard days.

Ron worked sometimes odd hours as a Flight Mechanic out at old Stapleton, but Helen always made sure he had a hot meal no matter what time his shift ended. As his life was ending, she would make his favorite meals and bring them to the hospice center; the look on his face as he ate those meals was all you had to know, because he knew she loved him.

Helen was the mother of Karen Ann (1957) and Ronald Albert “Ronnie” (1959).  It was when she had kids, she started her new career as a full-time mom and did not reboot her career until that young one went off to college. Tough as nails, it was always “If you fall, you get back up.”, “You’re okay, I don’t see any blood or bones.”.  Couldn’t rub any dirt on it because she was the first one there with the washcloth and soap cleaning you up.

She then started working in the Cherry Creek school district in 1977, first in the cafeteria at several schools close to home (elementary, middle-school, and finally high-school).  Certainly, no ordinary lunch lady, she loved getting to know kids from all walks of life. She gave them as much grief as they gave her, and they all came to enjoy the banter.

She soon ventured into the world of high-school security.  She was tough as nails, sometimes intervening in physical alterations.  However, she did not rule with an iron fist, she would always try and help instead of punish.  Firm, but fair the kids would always say.  Even years after she retired, you would run into students that remembered her and would come up and give her a big hug.

Helen was the grandma to Brent Steven (1980), Sabryna Ashley (1995), Casey Jared (1997), Ronald William “Ronnie” (2002), and grand-dog Emma (2011).  In typical grandparent fashion, she let her grandkids do all the things she told her kids they could not do.  She loved invoking grandma privileges.  Yup, it was okay to eat ice cream for breakfast when you stayed with grandma.

Helen had a few surrogate boys she “adopted”.  Ronnie’s college buddies would sometimes come down for the weekend to stay and “tear up the town” (golden age of disco in Glendale); 4 boys crammed into 2 bedrooms for the weekend. The tradition was that they would hang at home with mom, as they called her, the first night because she always made sure to have a batch of spaghetti gravy on the stove, wine too since no one was going anywhere.  She would also get mad at them if they did not bring her some laundry to do.  She cried when they graduated and had to leave Colorado.

Helen was also a surrogate grandma.  Always coming to grandparents’ day at Ronnie’s elementary school to be a surrogate for kids who did not have a grandparent that lived close enough to come.  She did this even after her own grandchild moved on to middle school.

Helen also loved to do things with her friends.  She spent years doing crafts like ceramics, crocheting, and other things, eventually learning to enjoy playing the penny slots “up the hill”; okay, sometimes quarters too.

She took her 2014 move to Littleton in stride, as she realized she could no longer do things herself as she realized her failing memory was putting her at risk.  The move was seamless because her daughter-in-law Maggie would not take no for an answer, making it easy for Ron to fulfill the promise he made to his dad to “take care of your mother for me”.  Helen often said that she felt lucky to have Maggie, because “Not many daughters-in-law would want to put up with their mother-in-law.”.  So, moving in alongside of the Queen (Maggie) and the Princess (Emma), Helen became the Contessa of Belmont Ave.

Making the move even easier was the fact that she already knew her new neighbors from her countless visits and stay-overs during the previous 10 years.  She loved sitting on the deck and talking to anyone who walk by on the greenbelt, and she always toasted the neighbor, yes, another Ron, with her glass of wine.

She was also the consummate baseball grandma, insisting on going to games even though it might be hot, cold, or windy.  And the baseball community always made sure they loved on her.

She was surRonded.  Her father-in-law, husband, son, grandson, one of her adopted boys, and her new neighbor in Littleton, she just could not get away from the Ron’s…nor did she want to.

She was tough as nails, but had the biggest heart and kindest soul ever, and was willing to share it with everyone.  And we were happy that she did.

A Funeral Service will be held for Helen on Saturday, March 5, 2022 at 2:00pm at Horan & McConaty Funeral Home, 3101 S. Wadsworth Blvd., Lakewood 80227. She will be laid to rest with her husband, Ron at Fort Logan National Cemetery.

Please leave memories and condolences for Helen by signing her tribute wall.