Helen E. Oakes

Helen E. Oakes, age 70, of Easton PA, died Saturday, April 22, 2017 at ManorCare in Easton. Born in Flemington NJ, she was the daughter of the late Herbert and Helen Plennert and lived in Hunterdon County for many years before moving to Easton.

It feels fitting that Helen, our wife, our mom, our sister, our aunt, our GeeGee, passed away on Earth Day. She was so often found in her garden (or sometimes your garden!). She grew beautiful flowers, healthy vegetables, bushes and trees. She had a “baby-seedlings nursery,” a special spot in her yard where she nurtured the tiniest sprouts into hardy specimens that would eventually be transplanted into a permanent home elsewhere in her yard or in someone else’s, as a gift to a neighbor or family member. She also had such a tender love for any critter, large or small. She had the chipmunks in her yard literally eating out of her hand.

GeeGee, loved to cook for the family and bake and decorate special cakes. She would show up on your doorstep with the best pot-roast or chocolate chip cookies in the world. She enjoyed giving little gifts for no occasion, and agonized over finding the perfectly suited present.

She loved to hit the road with her husband (Hub, she often called Harry, her partner in crime, and husband of over 50 years) in their camper they named “Rhoda.” She made the most amazing stews that she simmered all-day-long over the campfire. She enjoyed and was a fierce competitor in all family games. It could be kick-ball or a three-legged race… in one favorite card game, Nuts, GeeGee & BopBop were simply unbeatable, and they didn’t go easy on you either, just because a competitor might be a child or new to the game (Oh, it was on! This stuff mattered!). It was crazy scary-fun competitive, and the laughing would leave us all breathless and panting, red faced with our eyes watering, as if we all just raced a mile. (no time here to get into what “SPEED Bingo” was, but I bet you can imagine).

She gave the best hugs, that often turned into a whole conversation while you held onto each other and rubbed each other’s back, interrupting with an occasional “up higher, on the right.”

GeeGee adored her family. She was always on the phone with her sister Mary, and when those two sisters were together we enjoyed hearing stories of their upbringing on a little farm. A time when you could sit in a bunny-hutch, and read a book lying under a tree with a kitten nestled at your neck, sneak out onto a roof-top for the best view of the stars… punching the gas pedal on the old farm truck, careening down (off-camber) Plennert Lane, considering only briefly the odds of the truck tilting over just enough to end up on its side.

She cherished her niece and nephews, and her six grandchildren, and traveling with BopBop to visit family in Bloomsburg, Carlisle, Rockville MD and Lancaster, sometimes to help, sometimes just to be with them. Time by the sea at Rehoboth beach, or camping, or planting or building/re-building something together. It’s easy to recall her laugh, her smile, her endless energy, and that glimmer in her eye.

Helen is survived by her husband, Harry L. Oakes, her daughter, Catharine Hollenbach of Lancaster PA, her sons and daughters-in-law, Harry & Eva Oakes, III of Derwood MD, Thomas & Danielle Oakes of Carlisle PA, her sister, Mary Miller, and her six grandchildren, Harry, Jessica, Isabella, Olivia, Jose, and Maria, as well as several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be at 1:00 PM, on Saturday, April 29, 2017 at Holcombe-Fisher Funeral Home, 147 Main Street, Flemington, NJ. Interment will follow in Prospect Hill Cemetery in Flemington. Calling hour will be from Noon until the time of service at the funeral home.

For further information or to leave an online condolence, please visit www.holcombefisher.com.