Helen Davis, 99
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Helen Davis, 99, of Sweetwood Retirement Community died Saturday, May 16, 2015, at her apartment after a brief illness. Family and staff were at her side.
Born in Boston on May 6, 1916, the only child of John August and Helga Bendikda Johnson, she graduated from Boston University with bachelor's and master's degrees in biology.
Mrs. Davis taught biology at Buxton School for 16 years and had tremendous affection for her students and loyalty to the school. She loved working with adolescents.
Prior to that, she established the interlibrary loan department at the Harvard Medical School Library and did research on burn therapy after the Coconut Grove fire. During World War II, she worked as an analytical chemist at Atlantic Refining Co. She also spent four wonderful summers working at Marine Biological Laboratories in Woods Hole. After the war, she did research at Harvard Biological Labs related to radiation damage to chromosomes.
After retiring from Buxton, she immersed herself in a new career in 1975, opening The Gallery in Williamstown on Spring Street with the aim of helping aspiring New England artists and craftspeople show their work.
She and her husband, Dr. Robert K. Davis, had moved to Williamstown in 1953. While helping her husband set up his medical practice, she focused on arts programs for children. She tirelessly advocated for the inclusion of art and music instruction into the public schools. She started a children’s orchestra and church choir, and established many other community arts programs over the years.
In 1989, she and her husband retired to Sweetwood, where she chaired several committees and greatly enjoyed the company and support of staff and friends.
Throughout her life, she was a serious student of science, an avid reader, and a questioning thinker. She shared her interests generously with her children, grandchildren, students, and friends, providing books, subscriptions, and clippings about science, education, politics, social movements and the arts. She was remarkably open minded and liberal in her thinking. Her apartment was filled with books and science periodicals, and the family home was a welcoming and creative place overflowing with flora and fauna.
Her husband died in 1996. Mrs. Davis and her husband suffered the sudden tragic loss of their daughter, Martha in 1972.
She leaves her son, Brad Davis and wife, Beth; her daughter, Barbara Davis and her husband, George Howard; six grandchildren, Graeme, Hilary, Liza, Andrea, Benjamin and Abigail; eight great-grandchildren, and by extended family.
FUNERAL NOTICE — A private family gathering will be held to celebrate Mrs. Davis' life. The family requests that any memorial gifts be made to Environmental Defense Fund in her honor. Consistent with her passion for science, Helen has donated her remains to Boston University Medical School.
Flynn & Dagnoli-Montagna Home for Funerals is in charge of arrangements.