Helen Mary Lang

Helen Mary Elizabeth (Tisdale) Lang, 78, of Lyndonville, went home to be with the Lord on Tuesday, May 30, 2023, surrounded by loving family at Rutland Regional Medical Center.

Helen was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada on October 10, 1944, to Neil William Tisdale and Eileen Frances (Glynn) O’Leary.  A proud “Newfie”, she spent her childhood making wonderful memories that shaped the loving woman she would become.  She met the love of her life, Sherburn E. (Sam) Lang, when he was stationed in Argentia, Newfoundland, while he was serving in the United States Navy.  They were married on January 30, 1965, the same day as Sir Winston Churchill’s funeral. Together they would spend the next 58 years falling more and more in love with each other.

Helen and Sam spent their early years together in Lyndonville, VT - Sam’s childhood home. In 1973 they started traveling the world for Sam’s work, providing their young children the opportunity to live in Newfoundland, Spain, and Borneo before returning to Lyndonville in 1981.  Together they built a home for themselves on land they purchased on Finney Hill.  She devoted her life to raising her family and spending time with her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.  They were her pride and joy.  Helen started her career as a hairdresser before  becoming a homemaker. Later, she worked as a waitress, a job that fit her outgoing personality.  Helen was a kind and loving person, and a wonderful mother, wife, and friend.  She touched the lives of so many, and was loved by all who knew her.

Everyone knew Helen as kind, outgoing, full of love, always up for a trip or adventure, a music lover (loud as neighbors can attest), a lover of everything Elvis, and as a breeder who enjoyed showing her Pekingese dogs around New England. Together with her husband, in their younger days, she enjoyed spending their afternoons and evenings fishing from their boats. She was also an avid and very gifted craftswoman, skilled at most every craft to which she put her hand. Her creativity truly shone in the hundreds of objects that she touched with her paint brushes - candles, stones, glasses, hand saws, and of course, canvas.

Anyone who knew Helen knew that her greatest love was for her family and friends.  She was very non-judgemental, accepting people’s choices with the backdrop of who the person was, not who society said they should be. Raised Catholic, she embraced her Christianity by focusing on God’s love for all.

Helen is survived by her husband of 58 years, Sherburn E (Sam) Lang, of Lyndonville, Vt; her three sons: Christopher and wife, Marilyn, of Gulfport, FL; Gregory and wife, Dorie, of Chittenden, VT;  Sherburn II and wife, Susan, of Essex, VT; a sister-in-law: Judy Tisdale of St. John’s, Newfoundland; grandchildren Michael, Cassandra, Hannah and Connor Lang; Sean Montgomery, Ashley (Montgomery) Allen, Jordan and Caleb Brown, Riley McMullan, Jacob and Victoria Walker and five great-grandchildren. She is also survived by  many nieces and nephews, including Michelle (Tisdale) Cumby and wife, Arlene, of St. Johns, Newfoundland.

She was predeceased by her father: Neil William Tisdale; her mother: Eileen Frances (Glynn) O’Leary; stepfather: Patrick “Paddy” O’Leary; and a brother: Neil Frances Tisdale.

Calling hours for both Sherb and Helen will be held this Spring from 5pm - 7pm at Guibord-Pearsons Funeral Home in Lyndonville on May 30th, followed by a graveside service for family at Lyndon Center Cemetery the following day.

Memories and condolences can be shared at guibordfh.com