Joan Marie Hellyer

Joan Marie Kennedy Hellyer transitioned from her earthly home to her eternal home on April 20, 2020, two weeks after her 81st birthday. Our loving and beautiful Mom waged a valiant battle with Vascular Dementia for five years. She was at end stage in the battle when she was diagnosed on April 11 with COVID-19. As Mom has done throughout her life, she faced her final battle with dignity and grace. Our family, while heartbroken, is comforted in knowing Mom is now free from the pain and suffering she endured in the last several years. Born and raised in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, she is a 1956 graduate of James M. Coughlin High School. Mom has been a Bucks County resident since 1972 when we moved to the area following the devastating flood caused by Hurricane Agnes. With the help of family, friends and good neighbors, Mom created a new life with her three children. She shared with us her love of roller skating and horseback riding and regularly took us back upstate to share quality time with extended family members at recreational sites in the Poconos. An adventurous spirit, Mom learned right along with her kids how to body surf the waves off the shores of Seaside Heights, New Jersey. Plus, she showed us her daring side when she would sneak prepared hot dogs and rolls into Veterans Stadium for us to enjoy while we cheered on our beloved Philadelphia Phillies from the nosebleed seats in center field. After we got to Bensalem Mom first worked at a local factory during the week and as a waitress at Pizza Hut off Street Road on the weekends. Mom kept working at Pizza Hut on the weekends when she began a weekday job a few years later at a local publishing company. Then as an administrative assistant Mom worked for 24 years at the company that eventually became GE Betz, earning the respect of her colleagues and making many friends along the way. Not long after Mom retired in 2004, she went back to work part-time as a cashier at the ShopRite in Bensalem. Selfless does not begin to describe our Mom. Despite often working 60-plus hours a week while raising her kids, she still made time to support her children in their scholastic and athletic endeavors. During basketball season especially, she was an extra super Mom, often forgoing her lunch to leave work early to run to three different Bensalem schools to cheer her kids on during their games. She showed the same unending love and devotion to her six grandsons as she did to her children. Mom also loved cheering on all of Philadelphia's pro sports teams and we are thankful she was able to witness the Eagles winning Super Bowl LII just before her health began to severely decline. She was preceded in death by her parents, Thomas and Jenny (Musto) Kennedy, and brother Salvatore Kennedy. Left to cherish her memory are her beloved children Joan Hellyer, Jesse Hellyer (Loretta) and Nancy Hellyer Harris, her treasured grandchildren Daniel Harris, Matthew Harris (Christina Crouch), Quinton Hellyer (Kari), Richard Rudzinski, Martin Hellyer and Luke Hellyer as well as her great-granddaughters Riley Harris and Reagan Hellyer. Also surviving are Mom's siblings Thomas Kennedy (Ellen), Theresa Wienckowski, Richard Kennedy, John Kennedy and Rita Chulada (Richard), along with many loving nephews, nieces and cousins. Our family would like to thank the staff of Crestview Center and Compassus Hospice for their heartfelt care of our Mom over the past year. Contributions in her memory can be made to the Doylestown-based Dementia Society of America at www.dementiasociety.org or any charity of your choosing. A celebration of Mom's life will be scheduled when the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. Until then please pray for nursing home and hospital staff and all of the everyday heroes on the front line of the pandemic.