Helen Stone Kamins, a longtime Pacific Palisades resident, died September 25 at Sunrise Assisted Living, where she had been a resident. The cause was complications from pancreatic cancer. She was 81. Helen and her husband, Milton Kamins, moved to the Palisades with their two sons, David and Philip, in 1972 when Milton worked as an engineer with the Rand Corporation. From the time the family settled here, Helen was an active member of the community. She volunteered as a Cub Scout leader in the 1960s and remained active in Scouts for close to 20 years. She also volunteered at the Hadassah organization in West L.A. for more than 50 years. Helen was a member of the Palisades Garden Club and the Historical Society as well as the Los Angeles Westside Genealogical Society. She enjoyed researching her family tree through databases and excursions to the East Coast, where she and her husband had roots. She often attended local Chamber of Commerce mixers and enjoyed chatting with friends while sharing photos of her family or her most recent cruise vacation. Born Helen Alma Stone on November 13, 1928, in Cambridge Massachusetts, she graduated from Boston University with a degree in English in 1949. She later worked as a secretary at M.I.T. and was a member of the M.I.T. sailing club. In 1955, Helen moved to Los Angeles and worked at Ramo-Wooldridge which later became TRW. Her secretarial position there required that she hold ‘top secret’ clearance from the Atomic Energy Commission. She met Milton Kamins, a Boston native, in Los Angeles. They married in 1958 and lived in Mar Vista before relocating to the Palisades. Milton died in 1996. Helen Kamins is survived by her two sons, daughter-in-law Julie, and grandchildren Joshua and Alana Rose. Services were held at Hillside Memorial Park on October 3. Donations can be made in Helen’s memory to the American Cancer Society.
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