Helen Zarko

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Former Staten Islander Helen A. Zarko, 80, of Manchester, N.J., who doted on her grandchildren and was a die-hard Yankee fan, died Sunday in Jersey Shore Medical Center.

Born Helen Sisock in Hazel Brook, Pa., she moved to Manhattan in 1953 and settled in Huguenot in 1962. She relocated to Manchester in 2004.

Mrs. Zarko was a bank manger for Richmond County Savings Bank, working at its New Springville and Great Kills branches for 22 years. Earlier, she had worked for three years for Citibank in Grasmere. She retired in 2000.

She loved watching her favorite New York Yankees play, and also enjoyed bingo and visits to Atlantic City.

Mrs. Zarko's grandchildren meant the world to her and she loved them dearly.

Her mother "loved her family very much," and was dedicated to spending time with them, said her daughter, Nancy Fleming.

Mrs. Zarko's husband, John A., died in 2003, not long after the couple had celebrated their 50th anniversary.

Surviving, along with her daughter, Nancy, are her sons, Ronald J., Kenneth J., and Michael J.; her daughter, Linda Belnavis; a brother, Stephen Sisock; two sisters, Dorothy Maguschak and Betsy Zaits; 12 grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.

The funeral will be tomorrow from the Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home, Tottenville, with a mass at 10 a.m. in Our Lady Star of the Sea R.C. Church, Huguenot. Burial will follow in Resurrection Cemetery, Pleasant Plains.

Services: Our Lady Star of the Sea RC Church Wednesday, February 29,2012 10:00AM

Visitation: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home Tuesday, February 28,2012 2-4 & 7-9PM

Cemetery: Resurrection Cemetery (Staten Island)

Location: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home

Church: Our Lady Star of the Sea R.C.Church