KENNY Helen Kohout, 85, died Friday at her home in Clifton. Helen was the youngest of four children of the late Bohumil (Barney) and Frances Tintera Kohout, founders of Clifton's Kohout's Bakery, a Lakeview institution from 1927 to 1984. She was born at the family's first home on Center Street in Clifton on August 3, 1925. When Helen was two years old, the Kohouts moved to their long-time home on Lakeview Avenue, where Helen grew up. She attended School 11 and later graduated from Clifton High School in 1942. In September 1942, Helen began her studies at Paterson State Teachers College in Paterson; but when her father, Barney Kohout, died in 1943, Helen took a semester off to help her widowed mother at the Bakery. She then returned to Paterson State and earned her BS degree in 1946. Helen decided to continue her education and earned an MA in Business Education at Teachers College of Columbia University in 1948. The Kohout family celebrated Helen's advanced degree with a cake (of course) that proclaimed, "Congratulations Helen BS MA." A photograph of that cake with those letters later led to the creation of the Kenny family word "bsma" (pronounced "bizma"), which they used to describe anything that was exceptionally good. While still attending Columbia, Helen met her future husband, the late William F. Kenny Sr., on August 23, 1947. Helen and Bill became engaged at Christmas and were married on April 24, 1948 at SS. Cyril and Methodius Church on Ackerman Avenue in Clifton. The newlyweds honeymooned at the Skytop Club in the Poconos and made their first home in the front apartment over the Bakery on Lakeview Avenue. Children began to arrive and Helen became the mother of five daughters and two sons between 1951 and 1963. During those hectic years, Bill's work transfer to a Prudential office in Jacksonville, FL led to the family's relocation there from 1954 to 1959. They returned to Clifton and built their family home on Greenlawn Avenue, where Helen's sisters Emily and Josephine already lived. Their young families grew up together on Greenlawn Avenue. Helen lived there for the rest of her life, raising her seven children while continuing to work at Kohout's Bakery. Helen was an active and involved parishioner of St. Philip R.C. Church on Valley Road. She served as a Eucharistic Minister there and, with her late husband Bill, often worked with young couples in pre-Cana marriage preparation sessions. In an article about their marriage in the February 2005 issue of Clifton Merchant magazine, Helen emphasized that it was the Kennys' faith in God that helped them through life's difficult times. "We've been unusually lucky and blessed all around," she said. Helen and Bill reserved affectionate nicknames just for each other; Helen was Bill's beloved "Ellie" and Bill was Helen's loving "Wick." After nearly 60 devoted years of marriage, Helen lost her Bill on February 24, 2008. Helen was also predeceased by her mother, Frances, in 1975; her brother, Frank, in 2001; her sister, Emily, in 1986; and her sister, Josephine, in 1997. Helen's children describe their mother as "fierce and formidable" in her devotion to her family. "It started with her family of origin and extended throughout her life to her kids, grandkids and great-grandkids. And even as we passed into adulthood, she continued to parent us - worrying about us and trying to help in any way she could," they said. Helen is survived by her seven children, Marilyn Thiel of Colorado Springs, CO, Karen Cleirbaut of Mt. Olive, Patricia Anne Kenny of Westfield, Janet Lynn Sacklow of Monroe Township, William F. Kenny Jr. of North Caldwell, Paul F. Kenny of Chatham, and Mary Ellen DePrima of Blairstown; 20 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. The Kenny family will welcome visitors on Monday, April 11, 2011 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. at the Bizub-Quinlan Funeral Home, 1313 Van Houten Ave., Clifton. A funeral Mass will be held at 10 AM. Tuesday morning at St. Philip's Church, 797 Valley Road, Clifton, followed by burial services at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, East Hanover. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in their mother's memory to the Alzheimer's Association, 225 North Michigan Ave., Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60601. Donations may also be made online at www.alz.org or by calling 1-800-272-3900.