Helen Margaret Prusak Obituary

I am very sad about posting this, but to be a family history of any sort this should be here. Tom

Helen Margaret Prusak, friend and counselor to many over a long but sadly abbreviated life of service, died at her home the morning of Tuesday, January 17, 2012 after a year’s struggle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease). She was 73.

Born to Philip and Alice (O’Connell) McGonegal in Yonkers, New York on July 15, 1938, the third of six children, Mrs. Prusak spent the early years of her childhood often on the move: from Yonkers to Portland, Maine, then to Storrs, Connecticut, finally to Roselle Park, New Jersey, where she lived with her family from the third grade through college. (Adventures included a summer at the shore in Lavellette, while the family house in Roselle Park was literally moved around the corner.) The family came to know loss with the sudden death of Alice in 1951; life took another turn in 1954, when Philip married Miriam Howard, who relieved the older children of much of the burden of housework and childcare. Coming out of these experiences, Mrs. Prusak and her sisters and brothers maintained close ties over the decades and devoted themselves to the care of their step-mother in her later years.

After attending Benedictine Academy in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where she played basketball and developed a life-long friendship with her coach, Mrs. Prusak enrolled in Panzer College of Physical Education and Hygiene in East Orange, which merged with Montclair State during Mrs. Prusak’s sophomore year of 1958. She graduated in 1960 and then returned to Benedictine for two years as a teacher. In 1962, she decided to join the Benedictine Order, in which she served for seven years, leaving before taking final vows. While in the convent, she taught at various New Jersey Catholic schools and took a master’s degree in counseling from Seton Hall University.

Also while in the convent, Mrs. Prusak came to know her future husband, Dr. Bernard P. Prusak, who at that time was a priest of the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey. Both had decided to leave religious life; after a deepening friendship of several years, and after Dr. Prusak received a dispensation from Rome, they married in Hopatcong, New Jersey on August 1, 1970. She then joined her husband in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, to which Dr. Prusak had moved the preceding year after taking a teaching position in the Department of Theology at Villanova University.

Mrs. and Dr. Prusak had two children, in 1972 and 1977. In 1980, Mrs. Prusak began working as a guidance counselor at the Academy of Notre Dame in Villanova, Pennsylvania. She subsequently served for a number of years as the school’s vice principal as well, retiring from both these positions after twenty-five years at Notre Dame, in 2005. Many students owed their college admissions to the respect and trust accorded her by college admissions officers. Mrs. and Dr. Prusak educated their own children at Notre Dame and Malvern Preparatory School, then Smith and Williams for college. The family enjoyed vacations in New England, in particular Little Compton and Block Island, Rhode Island, and in later years twice traveled together to Rome, where Dr. Prusak had done his studies in the 1960s.

A dignified, principled, clear-eyed woman, Mrs. Prusak was also compassionate, generous, and forgiving, with a quick and ready wit that she was comfortable applying to herself. She made and retained deep friendships across her life; colleagues came to know and value her for wisdom and insight; family looked to her for clarity, emotional support, and guidance. To the end, ALS did not succeed in destroying her person. In her last days, though breathing with difficulty and barely able to speak, she delighted in her grandchildren, enjoyed the company of her sisters and brothers, and made known her love to family and friends.

Mrs. Prusak is survived by her husband, Dr. Bernard P. Prusak of Villanova, Pennsylvania; their children, Bernard G. Prusak and Alice Susanne Levine, both of Bryn Mawr; their children’s spouses, Margaret Kowalsky and Josh Levine; four granddaughters, ages four, five, six, and eight; and five siblings, Mary McGonegal of Manchester, New Jersey, Philip McGonegal of Atlanta, Georgia, Thomas McGonegal of Acton, Massachusetts, Virginia Martin of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, and Alice Ryan of Atlanta, Georgia.

Relatives and friends are invited to her Funeral Mass Saturday January 21, 11 AM at St. Thomas of Villanova Church (Univ. Campus), Lancaster Ave., Villanova. Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The ALS Association, Development Department, 27001 Agoura Road, Suite 250, Calabasas Hills, CA 91301 or the Patrician Society of Central Norristown,121 East Chestnut Street, Norristown, PA 19401.