Helen M. Balogh

Helen Madeline Balogh, 89, of McCormick, SC, Savannah Lakes Village, wife of Richard G. Balogh, died Friday, August 30, 2024, at the Hospice House in Greenwood, SC.

Helen was born in Brooklyn, NY to the late Joseph and Helen (Cosgrove) Barr. The youngest of five children, Helen attended SS. Joachim and Anne Elementary School in Queens Village and St. Joseph High School in Brooklyn, NY. After high school, Helen worked as a telephone switchboard operator for New York Bell, advancing to section Supervisor. In 1954, her brother Dan was stationed with Richard in the Army in Massachusetts. He invited Richard to Thanksgiving dinner where he met Helen, and a life-long love affair began. After he returned home to Detroit, Richard and Helen wrote letters to each other for two years before getting engaged on August 9th, 1956. They were married at SS Joachim and Anne Church on May 18th, 1957. Richard’s job in the automotive industry took them back to Detroit where they would begin their family, raising 10 children (seven boys and three girls). Still, Helen and her husband found time in 1965 to become professed Secular Franciscan Tertiary’s at St. Bonaventure Capuchin Seminary and Church in Detroit, MI. 

To know Helen is to love her. Her beautiful smile lit up every room she was in, and her sense of humor was infectious. Helen loved card games and was known to be a little competitive. She never met a stranger and treated everyone with dignity and respect, a virtue she instilled in her children. Helen’s Catholic faith was the basis of her life. She was deeply devoted to the Virgin Mary and the Rosary. She prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet daily fully embracing God’s love and mercy for all of us. She truly believed in the power of prayer and would “storm heaven” with it, as she would say. 

Helen was a parishioner of Good Shepherd Catholic Church in McCormick, SC where she was a member and past president of the Women’s Club. Helen served as a volunteer with the McCormick Habitat for Humanity and was the ‘Queen Mum’ with the Savannah Lakes Red Hatters. She was a dedicated member of the St. Elizabeth of Hungary Fraternity in Augusta, GA which was part of the Secular Franciscan Order. 

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her son, Kenneth Balogh; her daughter-in-law, Lori Balogh; siblings, Daniel Barr, Ann Marie Reude, and Margaret Barr. 

Helen is survived by Richard her husband of 67 years; nine children, Richard Balogh, Stephen Balogh, Mary Ellen Balogh Truitt, John Balogh, Daniel Balogh, James Balogh, Joseph Balogh, Theresa Balogh Tripp (Paul) and Kathleen Balogh; twenty-seven grandchildren, twenty-two great-grandchildren; and her brother, James Barr. 

A Liturgy of Christian Burial will take place October 12, 2024, 11:00 A.M., at Good Shepherd Catholic Church, 1401 Greenwood Highway, McCormick, SC 29835 with Rev. Father Jacob Joseph officiating. Inurnment will follow in the Good Shepherd Columbarium. The family will receive friends in the church hall following the inurnment.

In memory of Helen M. Balogh, memorial contributions may be sent to Good Shepherd Catholic Church, PO Box 1468, McCormick, SC 29835.

A message of condolence may be sent to the family by visiting www.harrisfuneral.com

Harris Funeral Home & Cremation Services of Abbeville, is assisting the Balogh family.