Helen P. Wood

MADISON - Helen Fuglsang Poulsen Wood, 84, passed away December 9 , 2010, at the Don and Marilyn Anderson HospiceCare Center in Madison. Helen was born in Racine on December 12, 1925, to Knud and Katherine Fuglsang Poulsen, where she attended Howell Elementary School, McKinley Junior High School and graduated from Washington Park High School in 1944. Helen graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1948 with a bachelor’s degree in interior design. She returned to Mount Mary College in the late ‘60’s, where she earned a 4.0 and became certified to teach home economics. She taught at Washington Junior High School and Washington Park High School in Racine’s Unified School District. She was proud to be a UW alumni and lifelong member of the Wisconsin Teachers Association. Helen was arrested while demonstrating for teachers’ rights in 1975, dressed in white and marched in Illinois in support of the Equal Rights Amendment in the ‘70’s, rafted the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon when she was 60, and participated in anti-war protests at the beginning of the Iraq War. She traveled to Western Europe, Scandinavia, China, Hawaii, the Bahamas, Florida, New Mexico, New York, New Orleans and Oregon. She was especially pleased to visit Denmark, her parents’ birthplace, three times, most recently in May of this year. She enjoyed driving aging Volvos on scenic routes through Wisconsin and spending summer vacations at Jacksons Lakeside Cottages in St.Germain with family and friends almost as much as she loved spending time at Blueberry Lake outside Hayward, Wisconsin, also with family and friends. Her family extends a heartfelt thanks to Helen’s medical doctors and caretakers: Natalie Callander, David Watts, Steven Howard, Amye Tevaarwerk, Eva Allen, Linda Szalkucki, Michael Mullane, Paul Harari, and the staff at Don and Marilyn Anderson HospiceCare Center. Suggested memorials include driving scenic routes, planting roses, committing random acts of kindness, and donations to Hospice Care, Inc., the Multiple Myeloma Society, or your favorite charity.