Helen Parr May

Helen Parr May, age 95, of East Windsor, New Jersey, passed away peacefully on Thanksgiving-Eve, November 22, 2023 at her home at the Meadow Lakes Retirement Community.

A memorial mass will be scheduled this Spring at St. Anthony at Padua, Hightstown, NJ followed by a reception at Meadow Lakes.

Helen was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1928 and grew up in Montclair, New Jersey. She attended Rosemary Hall in Greenwich, CT and earned her B.A. degree in Chemistry from Wheaton College in Massachusetts.

After a few years of working in pharmacological research for Lederle Laboratories in Pearl River, NY, she undertook a project for E.R. Squibb and Co. at the Reading Hospital in Reading, PA. There she was introduced to Joel May by his mother, and they subsequently married in 1959.

She and Joel then moved to Chicago where Joel attended graduate school, and Helen worked at the Ben May Laboratories of the University of Chicago. Wanting a family, they first adopted J. Douglas May in Indianapolis, IN in 1963 and then Kathleen May in Chicago in 1966.

In 1977, they moved back east to be closer to family and friends, residing in Titusville, NJ for the next 33 years.

In 1985, Helen became a researcher with the executive search firm Management Advisors of Princeton before retiring in 1995.

In 2011, they moved to Meadow Lakes, where Joel passed away the following year after 52 years of marriage.

Helen was a member of St. James Catholic Church in Pennington, NJ, where she was active in her prayer group and the church choir.

An avid golfer all her life, she was a long-time member of the Hopewell Valley Golf Club. She also bowled in a Monday morning bowling league where she was the longtime treasurer. Other civic activities included work with the New Jersey Special Olympics, United Cerebral Palsy and American Red Cross blood drives.

Helen is survived by their two children, Kathleen May Sattin (Brad) of Millsboro, Delaware, and Doug May (Marie) of Antioch, Tennessee, her only grandchild Sean Meara, cousins, nieces, and nephews.

In addition to her husband Joel, she is predeceased by her brother George Milton Parr, Jr. (who also passed on Thanksgiving-eve in 2007) and her loving parents Theresa and George Parr.

For information on the mass and reception, please contact Kathy Sattin at kmeara123@yahoo.com.