Helen H. Poch

Mrs. Helen H. Poch, 103, died on February 28, 2016 in West Caldwell.
A Funeral Mass will be offered in Our Lady of the Lake Church, Verona on Wednesday, March 2 at 10 am.
Visiting in the Prout Funeral Home, (www.proutfuneralhome.com)
370 Bloomfield Avenue, Verona on Tuesday from 4 to 6 pm.
Born in Scranton, PA, Mrs. Poch lived in the North Newark for 50 years prior to moving to Caldwell in 1995.
She was a seamstress in NYC from 1942 to 1978.
Mrs. Poch was featured in the Christian Science Monitor and Readers Digest for her civic pride and community awareness. She was awarded the Rutgers Cooperative Extension Award for Excellence for her development and running of the Green Horizon Community garden from 1981 to 1995.
Other awards included: Improve Newark Program Golden Broom Award & the Citizen of the Month. Always willing to help the community, she taught sewing at Elliott Street night school and was President of the PTA for many years.
When the school needed to develop the auditorium into a cafeteria, she was instrumental in raising the monies and having the pipe organ donated to St. Jude's Church in Hopatcong.
She served her community as Advisory Board member & Past President of both the North District Police Community Council and North Ward Protective Owners Property Association.
Mrs. Poch was the loving mother of Chester Poch (and his wife, Mary Ann),
Phyllis Fenton (and her husband, Stephen) and Donald Poch.
She was also the dear grandmother of seven and great-grandmother of 15.
She was predeceased by eight siblings.