Helen Cochrane Callahan, 101, formerly of New Rochelle, NY and Boynton Beach died in a nursing home in Lake Worth on December 12, 2007. She was the daughter of the late Philip D. ("PD") Cochrane and Jesse North. Her father and his brother, Robert H. ("RH" were co-founders of Universal Pictures with Carl Laemmle. Mr. Cochrane was instrumental in enhancing the careers of Lon Chaney, Sr., Boris Karloff, Mary Pickford, Eric von Stroheim, May Bush, Irene Dunne, Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, Deanna Durbin, and John Barrymore to name a few. In her youth, she dated Eddie Foy, Jr.
Mrs. Callahan was born in Chicago in 1906. After graduating New Rochelle High School, NY she attended Knox School in Cooperstown, NY and National Park Seminary in Forest Glen, Ind. Her husband William J. Callahan, Sr., who died December 3, 1977 was in World War I as a machine gunner in the Philadelphia Keystone Division and won the Purple Heart. While he was a champion scull rower at the New York Athletic Club in Pelham, NY, they met and married on August 1, 1925.
They lived in Eastchester, NY for 30 years before moving to Boynton Beach, FL in 1975 after Mr. Callahan retired from John Hancock Life Insurance Company.
She is survived by two sons, William J. Callahan, Jr. of Delray Beach, Robert E> Callahan of Stamford, CT, nine grandchildren, and thirteen great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be planned at a later date.