Helein Raines Hart, passed away Oct. 28, 2020 at the age of 71. Helein was born Chana Roemerfeld in a displaced persons camp in Landsberg, Germany on May 27, 1949. Her mother survived the tortures of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. Her father fought with the partisans against the Nazis in World War II. After the war they searched, in vain, for any surviving family. As no family was left they stayed in the Landsberg DPC. When the camp closed in the 1950’s the family migrated to the United States setting in New York, then, in Detroit, Michigan. Helein remembered how she and her mother would go to the movies three times a week to learn English.
Helein moved to Indianapolis in 1977. She loved art and sought out the best of the best to study with. For a time she lived in Nashville, IN where she managed the Brown County Art Gallery and Museum. She taught watercolors at the gallery and her home studio.
Helein is preceded in death by her husband, George M. Hart SR.; son, James Edward Raines and daughter, Michele Tamara Raines. She is survived by son, Karl D. Raines; grandchildren, Corbin James Raines and Alyssa Marie Raines, all of Indianapolis; daughter-in-law, Angela Raines Riley.
A celebration of life was held Nov. 7. Helein asked that donations be made to any women’s shelter or animal shelter. Online condolences may be shared at www.conklefuneralhome.com.
For more information about Helein’s life and art, contact Normajean MacLeod at 812-988-4792.
