Helen Rudolph

Helen Marie Rudolph, 85, of The Village at Waterman Lake, Greenville, RI, died on Monday, November 24, 2025 at the HopeHealth Hulitar Hospice Center, Providence, RI. She was the wife of Dr. Norman Rudolph and mother of Eric, Alexandra and Kurt.

Helen was born in Brooklyn, NY and in her early childhood made frequent moves related to her father's employment with the US Government between Brooklyn, Queens and Upstate New York where she lived in towns including Clay and attended a one room schoolhouse.

Ultimately, the family moved to Highlands, NJ where she developed lifelong friendships, learned to swim, was active in scouting, won awards for her store window paintings and later moved to Atlantic Highlands, NJ.

Helen's Freshman and Senior years of high school were at Red Bank Catholic in New Jersey. Her Sophomore and Junior years were spent at the American High School in Frankfurt, Germany. Her two years in Germany were her most memorable and she met a diverse group of students from all parts of the US.

Helen decided on a career in nursing and was accepted to the Beth Isreal School of Nursing in Newark but, at the last minute, decided to attend the St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing in Trenton and in addition to training played on the school's basketball team. Upon graduation, her first employment was at the Monmouth Medical Center in South Jersey, where she was rapidly in charge of a ward of surgical patients. She met a diverse group of American physicians, including her husband Norman who she married in 1963, as well as German physicians training there and she and Norman maintained lifelong friendships with them.

Helen and Norman moved frequently in the early years of their marriage as Norman trained in New Jersey and Boston. After returning to New Jersey, Norman was drafted and the family moved to Germany for 3 years and enjoyed traveling in Germany and throughout Europe. In 1969, they arrived back in the United States via the luxury liner the SS United States on what was its final Atlantic crossing.

After spending one year in a suburb of Philadelphia, they relocated to Rhode Island. The day they arrived in Portsmouth, Rhode Island they looked at 17 houses and purchased their first home in one day and lived at that home for 52 years. While Helen was busy raising her family her life revolved around gardening and her children's sports. The whole family enjoyed skiing in the winter and traveling north and south for summer vacations.

With her children growing up, Helen decided to go back to college and earned her Bachelor's degree in Economics at the University of Rhode Island. She was an avid coin collector and a longtime member and former president of the Newport Coin Club. Helen was an avid New England sports fan. She was known for her quick wit and great sense of humor and appeared as an extra at a party scene in the movie, "The Great Gatsby" filmed in Newport in 1973.

Helen's Catholic faith was central in her life, she was a longtime parishioner of St. Barnabas Church in Portsmouth, RI and her three children received a Catholic education.

In 2017, Helen developed idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which claimed her life after 8 years, a disease with the typical life expectancy of 4 years.

Helen is survived by her husband, Dr. Norman Rudolph and sons Eric J. Rudolph and his wife Lynn and grandchildren Max, Ava and Wil of Portsmouth RI and son Kurt N. Rudolph and his wife Adeline and grandchildren Erich and Addie of Canandaigua, NY. She is also survived by Dr. John Roberts, husband of her late daughter Alexandra, and her granddaughter Alexa Roberts of Hillsborough, NC.

Funeral Services will be held December 20, 2025 at 9:00am in St. Barnabas Church, East Main Road, Portsmouth follow by a burial at 11:30 am in Rhode Island Veteran's Cemetery, 301 South County Trail, Exeter, RI.

Memorial contributions to the American Lung Association at www.lung.org or HopeHealth Hulitar Hospice Center at https://www.hopehealthco.org/ways-to-give/donatenow/ , 1085 North Main St, Providence, RI 02904 Attn: Philanthropy.