Helen Mae Pulice

Helen Mae Pulice (Nee: Schuppe) age 89, passed away Sunday, December 6, 2020, at Pleasant Point Senior Living, where she had resided for the last 6 months of her life. Helen was born in Franksville WI, on December 21, 1930.

Helen was the ninth of ten children of George and Catherine Schuppe (Nee: Fiebig). Helen was preceded in death by her father George, mother Catherine, brothers and sisters George, Katie, Alex, Fritz, Jake, Hank, Marie and Margaret. Helen’s younger brother Bob is the sole surviving member of the immediate Schuppe family. Helen was also preceded in death by her loving husband of 58 years, Joe Pulice and her son Brian. Helen is survived by her sons Mark (Peg) Pulice, Joey (Pat) Pulice, her four grandchildren, Cole and Sophia Pulice, Matthew (Becca) and Sarah Houghton and two great grandchildren Hailey and Daphne Houghton.

Helen graduated from William Horlick High School in 1948. From 1948-1954, Helen worked as an assistant in a law office in Racine. In 1954, Helen and Joe got married and moved to Chicago where Joe was studying percussion and playing drums professionally. A few years later, they moved back to Racine to start a family. Joe worked at Western Publishing during the day and played drums and taught drums lessons at night. During these years, Helen stayed home and raised their 3 boys.

In the mid 1970’s, Joe and Helen followed their dreams and opened a music store – PULICE MUSIC UNLIMITED. For the next 15 years, Joe and Helen provided a welcoming and nurturing environment to enable people of all ages and skill levels the opportunity to learn the joys of learning how to play music. They hired a staff of the best musicians in town to teach over 400 individual lessons each week on all instruments. Joe taught drum lessons at night and Helen ran the store from the behind the counter from 10:00AM - 9:00PM six days a week. People came to the store to purchase instruments, supplies and to take lessons. However, the extra bonus was to be able to visit and socialize with Helen. She was the cornerstone of the business – kind, caring, a great listener and supportive of everyone that walked through the door.

In the late 1980’s, Joe retired from Western Publishing and they decided to sell the business. However, Helen wasn’t ready to retire. She brought her skills of running a business and her sociable disposition with her to work as a teller at North Shore Bank on Main Street. For the next 15 years, Helen was a favorite of the bank customers because of her kind and enjoyable personality.

In addition to raising their three sons and working fulltime, Helen was legendary for always cooking and providing meals for anyone who came to the house to visit. No one was ever allowed to leave her house without having a plate of spaghetti and meatballs or her famous lasagna.

Helen also the biggest fan of her husband Joe, and his drumming. She was the accountant for band that Joe played in for 40 years – The John Bunic Big Band. You could find her in the audience every Tuesday night wherever the band was rehearsing. In her younger years, Helen was a member of a social sorority of friends from high school that continued meeting for many years. Helen was also an active member in the Vittoria Colonna club based out of the Roma Lodge Italian Club.

After Joe passed away in 2013, Helen stayed busy spending time with family and friends. They would go to breakfast, go shopping, play cards and reminisce about the good old days. Helen found her way back to her roots in Franksville and started attending Sunday Services at the Faithbridge United Methodist Church and joined their Knit Wits knitting club. During these years, Helen also enjoyed traveling to Minneapolis MN to spend time with her son Joey and her daughter-in-law Pat and their family, as well as Bloomington IN to spend time with her son Mark and her daughter-in-law Peg and her great-grandchildren.

Throughout Helen’s life, there was nothing more important to her than her Schuppe and Pulice families and all the extended relatives. Helen gave everything she had to her family. She put family first and herself second. She treated her loving husband, Joe, like a king and sacrificed everything for her sons. Helen never gave up in life. She faced adversity head-on and knew that love would always prevail during tough times. If you look up the word “courageous” in the dictionary, you will find a picture of Helen Mae Pulice (Nee: Schuppe).

Because of restrictions from COVID 19, we will have an outdoor memorial service for Helen later in the spring of 2021 so we can all gather safely and celebrate her life.

Special thanks to Dr. Robert Gullberg for over 30 years of loving and compassionate care to Helen and Joe; Pleasant Point Senior Living who provided a wonderful and supportive place for Helen to live during the last six months of her life; Hospice Alliance who provided an environment of calm of comforting care during the last two weeks of Helen’s life; and to Josie Porcaro who was Helen’s best friend for over 70 years and who was there for her and our family, unconditionally, every day until she passed away.

In lieu of flowers, if you so choose, you can make a memorial in Helen’s name to Hospice Alliance. They provide the most important care to patients during the most difficult times in their lives. And, in this era of COVID, their caregivers walk into hazardous environments every day to comfort patients who are separated from their families and are dying all alone. They are the true heroes!