Helen Jeannette Hottenstein of Forksville, a pioneer in modern nursing, organizer of a local home health agency and world traveler, passed away Sunday, Oct. 27, 2002, at the Memorial Hospital of Towanda.

Helen was born April 23, 1928, at the Dr. A.J. Bird Maternity Home, New Albany, a daughter of the late Willard Bryon and Blanche Kester Hottenstein. She graduated from New Albany Vocational High School, Class of 1946, received her RN degree from the Robert Packer Hospital in October 1949, and a BSN from UCLA in 1976. Helen credited her aunt, Ruth Arey, for inspiring her to nurse and care for others.

She began her nursing career at Allentown State Hospital, moving on to the Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans upon the recommendation of Dr. Guthrie of Sayre, who was a friend of Alton Ochsner, a world-class surgeon. Due to the low salaries then paid nurses, Helen also babysat and thus met the president of Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, who offered her a job in Saudi Arabia.

Helen spent 14 years in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (1955-1970), with the Arabian American Oil Co. (ARAMCO) in various capacities in the hospital. She traveled extensively, to Jordan, Lebanon, Vietnam, Europe, Africa, China and Japan, and around the world 14 times. She even ended up in a few scenes in the movie "Bridge over the River Kwai" which was filming when she was in Ceylon.

Helen was in Dhahran during the Six-Day War when the Arabs attacked the hospital. In 1968 Helen and her comrades received a blessing from Pope Paul II in his quarters in Rome for their relief efforts in the aftermath of the Six Day War.

To be closer to her aging parents in 1970 Helen returned to the U.S., and went back to UCLA, working in Los Angeles at the Veterans Administration and then the county hospitals. She was also clinic coordinator for the Foothills Chapter of the Flying Samaritans, a non-profit group devoted to medical and educational aid to remote villages in Baja California, Mexico, flying to remote areas of Mexico every two weeks.

But "Once you get your feet wet in the Loyalsock, you'll always come back," and Helen did in 1976, following the death of her mother. In 1977 she assumed a position as director of nursing at Dar-Way Nursing Home, Forksville, until 1983, when she assumed a position at Memorial Hospital, where she established the hospital's Home Health Care Agency.

April 19, 1995, was designated Helen Hottenstein Day by the Sullivan County commissioners in recognition of her "total involvement and commitment to her county and community" and for her efforts to "assure that residents enjoy healthier and happier lives." A retirement party at the Memorial Hospital in 1995 honored her for "her dedication and commitment in pioneering home health care for the hospital in Bradford and Sullivan counties."

~Her memberships include the Towanda Chapter No. 76, Order of the Eastern Star; the State Nurses Association Alumni; and Dushore Lions Club. Helen donated her time and energy to many worthwhile causes, serving on the boards of the following: the Area Agency on Aging, the Sullivan County Council on the Arts, the Sullivan County~ Historical Association, St. Paul's Consistory, St. Paul's Women's Guild, the Sullivan County Library Board, Bradford-Sullivan Co. Red Cross and Dushore Tuesday Club. Helen served as the chairperson of the Sullivan County Assistance Board since 1978 and rarely missed serving as a nurse at the local bloodmobiles. Sh~e is survived by "Duke" and numerous cousins. Helen was predeceased by her mother in 1975 and father in 1991. A memorial service will be held at St. Paul's United Church of Christ, Overton, on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2002, at 11 a.m. with the Rev. Robert W. Martin, her pastor, officiating. Interment will be in St. Paul's Cemetery. There will be no calling hours.

Memorials may be directed to Memorial Home Health, c/o Debra Hicks, RN, BSN, MS, One Hospital Drive, Towanda, Pa. 18848. Funeral services are under the direction of the P. Dean Homer Funeral Home, 206 Water St., Dushore.