Helen Wellman McKee, 88, died Dec. 1 at her home in Old Saybrook. Helen McKee was born July 11, 1923, in Winnipeg, Canada, to Helen (Stixrude) and Harold Tewell. In 1945 she married Harvey Russell Wellman, whose career in the Foreign Service and the United Nations led to postings in many countries - Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, France, Norway, Portugal, and Switzerland. She loved languages and spoke Spanish, Portuguese, and French fluently. She read widely and was particularly interested in women's fiction - Eudora Welty, Carson McCullers, Rumer Godden, Katherine Anne Porter, Isak Dinesen, and Willa Cather were some of her favorite authors - and American short story writers. As a mother, she also read aloud to her children from a vast trove of children's literature - E. B. White, E. Nesbit, C. S. Lewis, Meindert Dejong, Munro Leaf were family favorites - instilling in each of her children a love of books and the spoken word. In Lisbon, she set up a lending library for children in the American community. When she and Harvey retired to Old Saybrook in 1979, she continued her strong commitment to issues of literacy by working for years as a teacher's aide at the Daisy Ingraham Elementary School in Westbrook, giving extra help to children with learning challenges, particularly after her husband's death in 1988. She also took great pleasure in volunteering at Acton Library in Old Saybrook. She was a longtime active member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Westbrook and was associated for many years with the Hie Hill study community.

On Nov. 16, 1996, she married William McKee of Glasgow, Scotland. During their annual five-month stays in Scotland, she was warmly received most especially by Bill's two surviving sisters, Cis and May, a nephew, James Aikin and family, Bill''s two sons, Angus and Colin and their families and the many friends in the West Glasgow New Church fellowship. They enjoyed 13 joyful years together until his death in 2009.

She leaves behind a brother, Richard Tewell, of Atlanta; five children, Karen Fresco of Urbana, Illinois; Judith Post of Old Saybrook; Clarke Wellman of Seattle; Christine Boudrie of LaSalle, Michigan; and Charlotte Wellman of Meadville, Pennsylvania; and five grandchildren, Lisa Wellman, Samuel and Noah Boudrie, and Cecily and Tessa Miller. Memorial donations may be made in Helen McKee's name to Smile Train at www.smiletrain.org. Please visit www.swanfuneralhomeoldsaybrook.com to leave an online tribute or condolence.

A memorial service will be held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 53 South Main Street, Westbrook, on Saturday, Dec. 31 at 2 p.m. A reception will follow. The Reverends Ted Coolidge and Nihal de Lanerolle will officiate.