- Date Of Birth: February 23, 1947
- Date Of Death: February 9, 2021
- State: New Jersey
Helene Rockman, of Highland Park passed away on February 9th, 2021. She was born in Poughkeepsie, NY on February 23rd, 1947; the daughter of Victor and Naomi Emmet. She taught decades of students at Highland Park High School until she retired in 2013. None of this information will tell you anything about Helene that really matters.
Helene. Lainie. Rock. Mom. She was fierce, funny and so full of love that the tributes posted and pouring in barely begin to paint her full picture. She was a Mother, a sister, an Aunt, a Nana, a friend, a teacher, a mentor and she threw herself into each role so effortlessly, so completely, that it was stunning. She had a designer’s knack for picking the right picture or placing the just the right vase in the just right place. She elevated gift-giving to a mystical art. Her garden was a local attraction and her cooking would lure her kid’s friends from their own homes every holiday for leftovers. If she sensed one of her people had been wronged, she was surely ready to scrap. And she could dance, Oh man, could she dance.
Nothing meant more to her than a good, true connection. If you weren’t ready, the direct eye contact and full-throttle honesty could topple you over. No student, no shop-owner or craft-fair artist was safe once she zeroed in but you would come away from even the briefest encounter feeling both seen and special. Because to Lainie, you were. Her capacity for love could seem impossible to those outside of the circle; those that didn’t know her. It could be dizzying to those on the inside. She left no thought unsaid, faced every feeling head-on and had a thousand questions for you that she truly wanted the answer to. To care that much is a rare, beautiful thing.
She is survived by her two sons, Matthew and Seth, her daughters-in-law Gillian and Roxana, her granddaughter Lana, her beloved sister Jane and her niece and nephew Rachel and Jonathan. She would be the first to tell you that her family was larger, still.
