Helen Virginia Roderick Nicodemus

Obituary

Mrs. Helen R. Nicodemus, 85, of Frederick, died on Monday, May 9 at Glade Valley Nursing Home, Walkersville. She was the wife of Edgar F. Nicodemus, whom she married on May 10, 1944 at the Army Air Corps Base in Deming, N.M. and they just celebrated 61 years of marriage.

Born on March 25, 1920 in Urbana, she was the daughter of the late Andrew and Airy Viola Wolfe Roderick. Helen was a 1937 graduate of Frederick High School. She was a member of Calvary United Methodist Church in Frederick and a founding member of Hughes United Methodist Church in Wheaton, where she sang in the choir for many years.

Mrs. Nicodemus was secretary to the principal for several schools with Montgomery County Public Schools, retiring at Gaithersburg Elementary in 1982, after 24 years of service. In the late 1980s, she then became a full-time classroom volunteer at Woodfield Elementary School. She served there for 15 years and received an award from the State of Maryland for volunteering more than 1,000 hours per year during that period.

Mrs. Nicodemus has left a living legacy through the hundreds of children, families and teachers that she has touched with her love and generosity. Her last days were spent in the loving care of the wonderful staff at Glade Valley Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Walkersville.

Surviving are three children, Ronald E. Nicodemus and partner Leslie Kain of Ellicott City, Linda Gibson and husband Alfred of Bridgeport, W.Va. and Roxane Smith and husband Tony of Mount Airy; six grandchildren, Wendy Bazilian and husband Jason, Michael Gibson, Kristin Leikam and husband Aaron, Cherie Poe, Jed Smith and Chelsea Smith; two great-grandchildren, Hunter and Jarrod Poe; two brothers, Andrew Roderick and wife Liz of Charleston, W.Va. and R. Carroll Roderick and wife Barbarateen of Frederick; and a sister, Caroline Feaga of Frederick. Mrs. Nicodemus was preceded in death by a sister, Elizabeth Fox-Burski.

The family will receive friends from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, May 13, at Stauffer Funeral Home, 1621 Opossumtown Pike, Frederick, where services will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 14, with her pastor, the Rev. Kenneth Dunnington, officiating.

Interment will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Frederick. A reception will follow at Worman's Mill Community Club House, 2470 Stoney Creek Road, Frederick.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.

Published Online in The Frederick News-Post on May 11, 2005