Bainbridge Island resident Helen S. Blackmon, age 83, died May 12 at Island Health and Rehabilitation.

She was born Oct. 12, 1919, in Denver, Colo., to Gustavus and Mabel (Wortham) Sessinghaus.

She graduated from Barnard College in New York City and earned a master’s degree at Patterson State Teachers College in New Jersey.

She then embarked on a career in elementary education. She taught in Little Ferry, N.J. in the early 1960s and taught English as a Second Language until 1970.

When her first husband, John Williams, Jr., died in 1975, she ran his insurance agency for the next 10 years.

In 1985, she married William A. Blackmon, Jr. and they lived in Manhattan until his death in 2000.

During their years of marriage, they traveled extensively; Helen successfully traced her family tree back to England in 1600; immersed herself in the cultural offerings of New York where she was a member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History; and held memberships in the Daughters of the American Revolution and Daughters of the Confederacy.

She is survived by one daughter, Ann Cook, and one son, John Williams III, both of Bainbridge Island; four grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

At the family’s request, no memorial services will be held. Arrangements are under the direction of Kass Funeral Home.