Helen-Ann Comstock of Philadelphia and Perkasie, Pennsylvania, founder of the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, passed away peacefully on July 30, 2025, at Hidden Meadows on the Ridge in Sellersville, Pennsylvania.  She was 92.  Helen-Ann is now reunited in eternal rest with her beloved husband of 27 years, the late Dr. Craig Comstock (PhD), who passed away on September 16, 1984.

Born in Philadelphia on April 16, 1933, Helen-Ann was the daughter of the late Earl Vernon and Elsie Elizabeth (Wilson) Souder.  She attained her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA, in 1954, where she was also awarded a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2020.  Helen-Ann began her professional career working as a secretary for Mayor Richardson Dilworth of Philadelphia until leaving employment there to raise her family.

Helen-Ann was a devoted spouse who found strength and purpose following her husband's untimely death from frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) long before the disease was understood.  She stepped into the fray in 1985 as the first executive director of what is now the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association, where she expanded the organization until her retirement in 2000.  In 2002, frustrated by the lack of federal funding for FTD research, Helen-Ann founded the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD).  Collaborating with a team of dedicated FTD care partners and medical professionals, she focused the organization on raising awareness of the rare disease, advancing research for FTD, and providing information and education.  As a former caregiver herself, her passion was ensuring AFTD programs provide support for caregivers as well as research.  Helen-Ann was the chair of the AFTD Board of Directors until 2010 and was still active on the AFTD Board at the time of her passing.

Helen-Ann was also a loving mother, grandmother, sister, and aunt who enjoyed spending the summer in her cherished family cottage in Perkasie Park, Pennsylvania.  Her parents bought the cottage in 1942, and she loved relaxing there with her cat Mr. Marmalade while visiting with friends and watching the birds.  Helen-Ann served on the Perkasie Park Board of Directors for many years.  An avid reader, she also loved traveling, which she did in her later years with her life partner, the late John Roger "Jack" Fawcett of Ridgefield, CT.

She is survived by her three children:  Beth Comstock, of Los Angeles, CA; Earl W. Comstock and his wife Anne McInerney, of Washington, DC; and Craig Douglas Comstock and his wife Elizabeth (McSherry), of Katy, TX;  three grandchildren: Kathleen (Comstock) and her husband Jonathan Sims, Craig Douglas Comstock, Jr. and his fiancée Annabelle Regan, and Clare J. Comstock;  and a sister, Suzanne Eagleson, of Philadelphia.  In addition to her husband and parents, she was preceded in death by a sister, Elizabeth M. and husband John H. Neupauer, and namesake niece Helen-Ann Neupauer.

A Memorial will be held on Saturday, October 11, 2025, at 3:00 pm in the Perkasie Park Auditorium, 200 S. Ninth Street, Perkasie.  An interment will be held privately by the family in Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery, Perkasie.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, 2700 Horizon Drive, Suite 120, King of Prussia, PA  19406 or https://give.classy.org/RememberingHelenAnn

Arrangements are by the Suess-Gahman Funeral Home & Crematory, 606 Arch Street, Perkasie, PA.