Helen McCrane

Helen F. McCrane, of Merchantville passed away peacefully at home on Wednesday, January 1st.  She was 84.  The youngest of three children, Helen was born to Ralph and Joy Frey in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  From her earliest years she embraced the creative arts.  She enjoyed choir, art, musical composition, writing, sewing, knitting and of course her theatrical endeavors.  In her teen years she began acting in summer stock with such notables as Roy Scheider, Walter Abel, Neil Hamilton and Betty White.  For a time in the early sixties, she lived in San Francisco where she was co-owner of an art gallery but came back to her Pennsylvania roots, settling in Philadelphia, where she married and raised her family.  But after family, theater was always her life’s passion, whether acting, singing, directing, writing music or designing scenery.  She performed with the Philadelphia Drama Guild, Plays & Players Theatre, Society Hill Playhouse and Philadelphia Theatre Company.

She was predeceased by her beloved husband Vincent, her sister Christine, brother Robert and grandson Aidan.  She is survived by son Ian (Barbie Sue), daughter Siobhan (Tom), son Michael (Linda), ten grandchildren, Hannah, Christie, Ceilidh, Meghan, Sean, Abigail, Kieran, Ronan, Ian and Declan and numerous nieces and nephews.

Memorial service and interment to be private.  In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in her name to Plays & Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey Place, Philadelphia PA 19103. (www.playsandplayers.org)

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