Rockefeller College card-checker Helen Wilkinson, 81, passed away last Wednesday at her home in Princeton Junction.
“She was a really sweet old lady,” said Chidalu Onyenso ’14, a Rockefeller resident. “Every time I went to breakfast, she was always changing the napkins and would let me in. One time, she complimented my blouse and said I looked really cute.”
“Helen Wilkinson meant a lot of things to a lot of different people,” Frank Musella ’13, a member of the Rockefeller College Council, said in an e-mail. “To me, she was almost like a grandmother.”
For Rockefeller residents, Wilkinson stood out for her devotion to her job and her regular presence at the dining hall entry.
“I admired her dedication,” Musella said. “She worked almost every day, pushing around the heavy card reader station despite her bad back. I noticed her absence of late and wondered if she retired.”
“She didn’t say much to most students,” said Amber Jackson ’13, a member of the Rockefeller College Council. “But if you took the time to get to know her and say hello and go past formalities, she was just really sweet.”
“I didn’t understand why she was having to work, but she put on her makeup and sat in front of the card swiper and was just so kind,” Jackson said. “I felt like she’d always be there, and now that she’s not there anymore, it’s just kind of unsettling.”
An anonymous user on PrincetonFML.com posted a message Friday in Wilkinson’s memory. “I feel as if I’ve lost a grandmother today. Helen Wilkinson, RIP.” The post garnered 190 user up-votes.
“Helen was a lovely person, and she had an excellent fashion sense,” said Yaron Aronowicz, a resident graduate student who is also on the Rockefeller College Council, in an e-mail. “You could always count on her to wear wonderful sweaters and cardigans, and her glasses were totally fierce.”
Wilkinson is survived by two children, one grandson and one great-granddaughter. According to the obituary published in the Times of Trenton, her funeral service will be held this morning at the Mather-Hodge Funeral Home in Princeton. Memorial donations may be made to Disabled American Veterans or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
“We were very lucky to have her at Rocky College, and we will all miss her very much,” Aronowicz said.
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