South Orleans, Mass. —
Five years ago Helen Dicke underwent major surgery to remove a cancerous tumor. The next morning, during his rounds, her oncologist mentioned wryly, “Helen, earlier this morning the nurse on call came into the room to find you lying on the floor with your feet high up on the wall. You do know that you are freaking out the nursing staff, right?” To which Helen replied “Why? I was just doing the Legs up the Wall yoga pose!”
Anyone knowing Helen well would not have been surprised. She marched to her own drummer, quietly but with conviction and great humor. Helen Cochran was born on Aug. 10, 1942, in Boston, Mass., to Moncrieff and Elizabeth Cochran. She grew up on Pleasant Bay in South Orleans, on Cape Cod, along with a sister and three brothers. After public schooling in Orleans she attended the McDuffie School followed by Colby Junior College in New London, N.H.
On June 29, 1968, Helen married Eric Fairbank Dicke, of Philadelphia, Pa., in a unique ceremony on Pleasant Bay Narrows, from which they departed aboard the Sea Scout ketch SES Nauset. After a winter on Monument Road in Orleans and a year in Watertown, Mass., they settled in Newtonville, Mass., where Eric worked as a guidance counselor at a local high school and their two boys, Cris and Colin were born. When Eric’s interest shifted to architecture, the couple moved to St. Louis where Helen completed her bachelor’s degree in psychology at Webster University while Eric attended Washington University.
In 1982, when Eric was offered an architectural position at Cornell University the family moved to Ithaca, N.Y., where they lived for more than two decades. Helen’s growing interest in working with women and families led her to complete a Master’s in Social Work at Syracuse University. She then took a job as a counselor at Planned Parenthood in Ithaca, and then worked with the victims of child sexual abuse in Cortland, N.Y. The stresses experienced in that job led her to a yoga class in Ithaca, where the teacher remarked that “If you get your teaching certificate in yoga I will hire you.” Thus began a 25-year passion for the teaching and practice of yoga.
Helen and Eric moved to Hartland, Vt., in 2002, purchasing a building in the village center with a long history as a general store. There Helen established the Hartland Yoga Center, teaching Svaroopa Yoga on the first floor while her husband built and repaired fine furniture at the other end of the building. The couple lived on the second floor, overlooking the village square. With her outgoing personality and sense of humor Helen soon became an integral part of the community, singing in the local choir, volunteering at the Upper Valley Food Co-op, and actively involved with Hartland’s Unitarian Church.
With the onset of Helen’s cancer in falll 2011, the couple began to consider a move back to the family land in South Orleans. Their house was built during 2015, and they moved in during May of 2016.
Throughout her life Helen was a go-to person for many of the people in her network when they were experiencing difficulties. She responded to the challenges they faced with candor, empathy and direct, down-to-earth advice. She didn’t beat around the bush, and called things as she saw them. Her enthusiasm, energy, and good humor were infectious.
Helen was preceded in death by her parents. She leaves her husband, Eric; her sons, Cris and Colin; daughter-in-law, Anne; beloved granddaughter, Betsy; and siblings Mon Cochran (spouse Sheila Bonnell), Kye Cochran (spouse Ron Pogue), Tom (spouse Sheela), and Colin (spouse Paul Langland).
A service will be held on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016, at 11 a.m. at the First Universalist Society of Hartland. In lieu of flowers, donations in Helen’s name can be made to the First Universalist Society of Hartland, P.O. Box 75, Hartland Four Corners, VT 05049 – Attention The Hartland Christmas Project.