HACKENSACK—Among nearly two dozen recipients honored at Friday’s Fifth District Hometown Heroes ceremony at HACPAC, the Hackensack Performing Arts Center, was the late Helen Whalen, a longtime volunteer with the Westwood Heritage Society and Pascack Historical Society.
U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer said the ceremony was intended to draw attention away from what is broken and toward what is working in American communities. Against the noise of cable news and social media, he said, the honorees offer examples of neighbors who quietly put others before themselves, often without seeking recognition.
“Today, we are here to focus on our neighbors, who, even in all the noise, look for ways to put others above themselves,” Gottheimer said. “Each day, our friends, family, and neighbors quietly go out and change lives through their service to others.”
Awardees included life-saving first responders, veterans, volunteers, community leaders, educators, and advocates from across North Jersey. Among them were members of the Hackensack Fire Department’s Second Platoon; 17-year-old Samuel Kim of Englewood Cliffs; Hillsdale educator and longtime Habitat for Humanity volunteer Andy Dunn; Northvale school nurse Joan Bowman and athletic director Mike Shulman, who helped save a student in cardiac arrest; Bergen Volunteers’ Paul Coller, recognized for more than a decade of service through CHORE; Ringwood’s Linda Schaefer, honored for decades of service with the ambulance auxiliary and on local boards; and West Milford’s Gary Oppenheimer, founder of AmpleHarvest.org.
Gottheimer saved Whalen’s tribute for last, closing the presentation of the day’s honorees with her story and framing it as a culmination of the ceremony’s larger message about service, memory, and community.
Whalen was born in River Vale in 1929 and moved to Westwood in 1952, making her home there for more than 70 years. She co-authored a book about her childhood hometown and later spent years assembling the stories, documents, and historical details that trace Westwood’s origins, character, and development.
That work culminated this year in the publication of “Did You Know? Stories and History of Our Hometown of Westwood,” a collection of historical documents, anecdotes, and photographs connected to the Hub of the Pascack Valley.
After Whalen’s death in 2023, the manuscript was completed through an editorial collaboration involving Westwood Heritage Society members, local historians, photo archivists, editors, and fact-checkers Linda Salib and Jim Gines, with direction from Whalen’s daughter, Kathleen. Publication was managed by Salib and society founding member Lee Tremble.
Gottheimer described the book as a lasting monument to Whalen’s work and to the idea that understanding the past can help build a stronger future.
Kathleen Whalen accepted the award on her mother’s behalf. With her were Whalen’s granddaughter Tatiana Whalen and grandson Marc Giannotti; Councilmembers Lauren Letizia and Erin Collins; and Mayor Ray Arroyo. Letizia, Collins, and Arroyo helped initiate the nomination.
Helen Whalen was the matriarch of a family that includes seven children, 16 grandchildren, and 25 great-grandchildren.
Watch Gottheimer’s July 2026 Hometown Heroes ceremony here.
