* Helen J. Woods; Retired Mortuary Owner

Helen Josephine Woods, who operated her family’s Glendale mortuary with her husband for more than three decades, has died at her home. She was 74.

Mrs. Woods, a Glendale resident nearly all her life, died Thursday of lung cancer, said her daughter, Maureen Miller of Glendale.

Born Helen Zaremba in Bay City, Mich., she came to California with her parents and sisters as a child in 1924. Soon after, her father, Joseph Zaremba, opened Glendale Mortuary. She met her future husband, James G. Woods, on a blind date following high school. The two were married in 1940.

In the 1940s, after her father’s death and during her husband’s service in World War II, Mrs. Woods operated the mortuary with her mother, Martha. After the war, Mrs. Woods and her husband bought the business and ran it for more than 30 years, changing the name to Woods Glendale Mortuary in 1968.

In 1976, they sold the mortuary to longtime employee Ronald Roy and retired. After several years in Rancho Mirage, they returned to Glendale two years ago.

“She was a real character,” her daughter said. “She loved a good joke.”

In addition to her daughter and her husband of 53 years, Mrs. Woods is survived by two sons, Patrick Woods of Bishop and Jim Woods of Simi Valley; a sister, Claire Joslin of Glendale; and six grandchildren.

Visitation will be held from 1 to 9 p.m. Saturday and from noon to 9 p.m. Sunday at Woods Glendale Mortuary, 511 S. Central Ave., Glendale. A funeral Mass will be celebrated Monday at 1 p.m. at Holy Family Catholic Church, 209 E. Lomita Ave., Glendale. A graveside service will follow at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, Hollywood Hills.