HÉLÈNE NATASHA CURRIE
1925 - 2017

On May 24, 2017, three days before her 92nd birthday, Hélène peacefully passed away.
Beloved wife of Dr. Donald John Currie (deceased, 2003), mother of Christopher Donald John (and Nora),
Thomas William (and Cynthia) and Andrew Alexander (and Jenn) and devoted grandmother to Caroline,
Alexandra and William, she will be forever missed.

Hélène was born at Fort Bragg, North Carolina to William Kernan, a US military historian and Zenia Babkin, a ballerina.
After her mother’s early death, Hélène became very close to her grandfather, Dr. Boris Babkin,
a scientist in Pavlov’s laboratory in Russia and later a professor of physiology at McGill University.
Hélène lived her high school years in New York City while attending the Convent of the Sacred Heart and then met her future husband while studying French literature at McGill. After then living in London, England they moved to Toronto
in the early 1950s, where Donald was to become the Chief of General Surgery at St Michael’s Hospital and
Hélène devoted herself to raising their three sons.

Hélène loved the Canadian Opera Company, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Russian and
French culture and travelling. She made many deep friendships because of her warmth and vitality and
she took great pride in her children, grandchildren and daughters-in-law. A person of great strength,
Hélène was not deterred from living a rich and cultured life by a serious stroke in 1998.
The family would like to express its gratitude to the many caregivers who looked after her at home over many years.
These include, most recently, Bobbi, Gemma, Marissa, Sehai, Shirley and Sonia as well as Dr Mark Nowaczynski at House Calls.

A funeral service will be held at St Clement’s Church, Toronto at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 30, 2017.
No flowers please and kindly direct any donations to House Calls at sprintseniorcare.org