h80_helen.htm

Biographies of Our Forefathers

Helen McKkenna

Helen married William Gillard. William was of French descent and entered the United States Army in World War II. He attended military training in the southern part of the United States then was assigned to the European Theatre with a tank destroyer outfit.

Photo: Bill at his post at Fort Bragg, North Carolina during training. Courtesy of Helen McKenna Gillard.

Helen McKenna was the daughter of Margaret Tinneny and Edward McKenna. She was born in Philadelphia on 23 October 1908. She was raised in the family home at 120 Ripka Street in Philadelphia and attended Holy Family Catholic Church and School. She graduated from Holy Family School (the10^th grade at the time) with a certificate.

Photo: Helen McKenna courtesy of Robert McCauley.

Photo: Bill in basic training courtesy of Helen McKenna Gillard.

After his basic and advanced training Bill was granted leave before going overseas to the European theatre of military operations where he saw much combat. He and Helen took a trip to Atlantic City New Jersey. The trip was very special for the newly weds.

Photo: Bill on the boardwalk at Atlantic City.

Inscription on the reverse of the photo left was written by his wife Helen.

Both photos courtesy of Helen McKenna Gillard.

The night before Bill left to go overseas my parents visited him and Helen and took me with them as an infant. It snowed that night and Bill carried me from their place to my parent's house in the snow. That was the last time my parents saw him. [R.J.T.]

On November 24th, 1944 Bill was killed in action. He and others from his unit had been riding in a jeep doing reconnaissance when they came upon a ridge. They parked the vehicle and had just gotten out of it to look over the ridge in an effort to spot German tanks when suddenly a concussion bomb went off near them and Bill was killed instantly. I spoke with a person who was with him that day and he said that although the concussion bomb killed him immediately there wasn’t a mark on his body.

Bill had told Helen before he left for Europe that if something happened to him and he died there he wished to be buried in France the home of his ancestors. His wish was honored and he was buried in the American military Cemetery at Saint Avould France.

One day while my family and I were assigned to Zweibrucken Air Base, Germany in the 1970s we were out on a drive and by chance stopped at the American Cemetery at Saint Avould, France http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/europe/lorraine-american-cemetery#.Vz8biswlKik

From the time I was a small child I remembered my parents talking about Helen’s husband Bill being killed in the war and buried somewhere in France. By chance I asked the Cemetery Superintendent if there was a registry that I could check to see if Bill was buried there. Although I wasn’t sure how to spell the last name I did find a William Gillard from Pennsylvania who died on November 24th, 1944. I was born the same day in 1941. I wrote a letter to Helen and gave her the info and she confirmed that was indeed her Bill.

We invited her to fly over and to stay with us but she declined due to her poor health. She had severe asthma. I did take photographs of us at the grave marker and other pictures of the beautiful grounds and sent them to Helen. She was so very appreciative. For the time we were assigned in Germany we would visit the cemetery on the anniversary of his death and at other holidays and place flowers on his grave. He is buried in a beautiful place.

Photo: Rich Tinneny during a visit to Bill’s grave at The American Cemetery Lorraine France in 1980. Courtesy of R. J. Tinneny.

Helen eventually bought a house and lived at 4605 Saint David’s Street in Philadelphia. She worked for many years as a retail clerk in Center City, Philadelphia. Helen was a very devout woman and attended daily Mass at Holy Family Church. Although she only had a small income she supported numerous missionaries.

Helen never remarried. She died on January 28, 1992 in Roxborough, Memorial Hospital in Philadelphia.

About a week before she passed away my wife Lee and I visited her at the hospital and we had a nice conversation and Lee brushed her hair for her.

According to her attending physician, Dr. Thomas O’Toole of 425 Lyceum Avenue in Philadelphia, she died at 7:15 p.m. He cited the immediate cause of death as being sudden and acute myocardial infarction due to coronary artery disease secondary to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

After a viewing at Fitzpatrick’s Funeral Home at 425 Lyceum Avenue in Roxborough and a Mass of Christian Burial at Holy Family Church she was buried in Westminster Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, February 1, 1992.

The undertakers bill included the following expenses: casket $1510, Quilt, nameplate and crucifix $65, prayer cards $28, clothing $106. There was a cash advance for the following items: cemetery charges $120, newspaper notices $92.28, religious offering $85. The funeral costs, $3936.28, were paid to Michael Fitzpatrick by Helen’s nephew, Robert McCauley, on February 20, 1990.

Note: Helen had no descendants.