When a little girl in her preschool class admired another child’s hair bows, Helena Blitstein went home and made some for her. It was the kind of small gesture that showed how closely she paid attention to children and how naturally she offered comfort. At Beth El Congregation’s preschool, where she worked in her final years, children often called her “Bubbe,” the name her granddaughter used. “All the kids knew her as Bubbe,” her husband, Stan Blitstein, said. “She made everybody feel comfortable.”
Blitstein, a longtime preschool assistant known for her warmth, patience and steady presence in Jewish early childhood classrooms, died on Sept. 20 at 68.
She was born in Baltimore on July 29, 1957, one of twin daughters of Abram and Elaine Blum. She and her sister, Cecelia, grew up in a kosher, observant home. The family celebrated all the Jewish holidays, stayed home from school for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah, and attended synagogues in the Pimlico area before joining multiple congregations in Randallstown over the years.
Their mother died of ovarian cancer when the twins were 19. The loss shaped both sisters and strengthened their bond. “It was traumatic,” Cecelia Pelc said. “We just depended on each other for a lot. We complemented each other. Whatever we could do for each other and our families, we did.”
Caring for others came naturally. As a teenager, Helena volunteered at Levindale, a Jewish senior care facility. As adults, Blitstein and Pelc shared responsibility for caring for their parents through long illnesses. “She was a very hands-on, great caregiving person,” Pelc said.
Blitstein extended that care to others as well. She regularly took friends’ parents and her father-in-law to medical appointments and often brought baked goods and treats to the offices she visited for her own health needs. “She was willing to help and do for anybody,” Pelc said.
As her children grew older, Blitstein sought work that matched her strengths. She joined the Rosenbloom Owings Mills JCC’s preschool, where she spent 18 years as a classroom assistant. Although she was not a credentialed teacher, she became a dependable aide who cared for children, supported teachers and helped wherever she was needed.
Her daughter, Marla Hiken, said Blitstein’s move into early childhood work grew out of who she had always been. Helena ran before- and after-school care out of her family’s home when Marla and her brother were young. “She enjoyed kids, crafting, and reading and singing songs to them,” Hiken said.
In the classroom, Blitstein was gentle and attentive. The handmade hair bows were one example of her instinct to make children feel seen and heard. She was also known for her love of order. “My mom was known as being a neat freak,” Hiken said. Helena often stayed in the preschool kitchen cleaning, and she brought arts and crafts materials home to prepare for the next day.
Families responded to her care. Several left messages on the funeral home’s website. Julie Heyman wrote: “My youngest daughter had Helena as her teacher when she was 3. Helena was nurturing and kind, always smiling.”
After staffing changes at the JCC during the pandemic, Blitstein left after nearly two decades. She later joined Beth El’s preschool, where she worked for about four years until health challenges forced her to step back.
Jewish tradition remained a constant in Blitstein’s home. The family belonged to Winands Road Synagogue Center in Randallstown for many years, and Helena and Stan attended holidays until the congregation closed in 2019. Their children were raised with regular celebrations and with the values Blitstein lived daily: kindness, helping others and giving even when she had little. “She didn’t grow up with much, and she never had much,” Hiken said. “But she always figured out a way to give back.”
Family was the center of her life. She met Stan Blitstein at a Beth Tfiloh Congregation dance through a mutual friend. Stan later attended synagogue with her family, and the two grew close before marrying and settling in Owings Mills. They raised two children, Marla and Alan, and cherished four grandchildren. Helena treated her twin sister’s children as her own and considered their daughters her grandchildren as well.
Her life changed suddenly earlier this year. Blitstein was diagnosed in June with a rare, aggressive form of leukemia. She underwent four rounds of chemotherapy without a break.
When it became clear the treatment was not working, doctors stopped further interventions to focus on her comfort. She died days later.
Through the final months, Stan Blitstein saw the same qualities that shaped her life. Even in the hospital, he said, Helena greeted every person she passed. “She had a pleasant way around her with total strangers,” he said. “She liked people and she liked being friendly.”
And for all her warmth toward strangers, her deepest commitment was to the people closest to her.
“Basically,” Stan Blitstein said, “family was her joy.”
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance writer.
