Helga Piccoli, 77, Bristol

Helga Piccoli, 77, of Bristol, passed away at home surrounded by loving family on Wednesday, Nov. 23. 

She is survived by her loving husband of 52 years, Victor Piccoli, son David Piccoli and wife Karen Piccoli, daughter Karen Anderson and husband Steven Anderson, and four cherished grandchildren, Joshua and Sarah Piccoli, and Maya and Benjamin Anderson.

Born in Munich, Germany, Jan. 7, 1939, she was old enough to remember living through the bombing raids on Munich late in the Second World War. After the war, her parents rented part of their house near Munich to a U.S. Army sergeant and his family, where she began to learn English.  

At 19, Helga left Germany for the United Kingdom to master English, even taking a class at Oxford. She later joined a travel agency that took her to Long Beach, Calif. That is where she met future husband, Victor, who was living on a boat at the time.

They married in September 1964, moved into a home in in Huntington Beach, Calif., and had their first child 13 months later. Shortly after their second child four years later, the Piccoli’s began job-related moves to Northern California, Akron, Ohio, and Portsmouth, R.I., eventually landed in Bristol, where they have lived since 1973.

Once settled, it did not take Helga long to engage in her true passions: cooking, gardening and the arts. She joined the board of the Bristol Art Museum in 1974 and has held multiple roles, including stints as chairwoman in 1980-82 and 2003-2004. Her crowning achievement was to establish the vision and secure funding to refurbish the Bristol Art Museum, leading to the recently completed $1 million restoration that has made the museum the Bristol landmark it is today.

Helga was also an avid volunteer and supporter of Blithewold Manson and Gardens in Bristol, and she had every family member performing a job at Blithewold at some point in their lives. 

Helga’s true escape were her gardens. So elaborate were the flower and vegetable gardens, that twice the home was part of garden tours that were open to the public. The Bristol Art Museum-sponsored Pleinaire artists even came on site to make paintings of the gardens.

Eight years ago, Helga was diagnosed with endometrial cancer. She fought with determination and participated in new treatment trials. She had survived years beyond all doctor’s expectations. 

Relatives and friends are invited to attend a Celebration of Helga’s life, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016 at 6 p.m. in the Sansone Funeral Home, 192 Wood St., Bristol. Visitation will begin at 4 p.m.  

For condolences, information and directions, go to  www.sansonefuneralhome.com.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions to Visiting Nurse Services of Newport and Bristol Counties are appreciated.

https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/vns.