BRADFORD - Like all great people, she was one of a kind. She died peacefully on Friday evening, November 30, at the Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport, four days short of her 97th birthday. She leaves behind many, many people who will be forever in her debt.

Helen Bernadette Gavin Kelleher was born in Haverhill in 1915. Her mother Bridgette Roche Gavin died when she was three. She lived for several happy years with her grandparents and her doting Aunt Dolly, who treated her like a princess. Her father Joseph Gavin remarried shortly thereafter, and she experienced poverty and difficulty throughout her girlhood, which was spent during the dark days of the Great Depression. She met her future husband, Hugh Kelleher of Newburyport, not long before the Second World War. After Hugh left for Europe and Africa, Helen developed TB. She spent several years at a sanatorium in Middleton, where she lost most of one lung, and for the first time received the last rites of the church. Her determination enabled her recovery, and in the late 1940's she and Hugh were married. They raised their family of six sons in Haverhill. The last of these children was born when she was in her mid forties. - an age that was exceptionally old in the 1950's. "I always wanted six boys," she said frequently, and with enormous, convincing sincerity. She seemed never troubled by the fact that she nearly died twice during childbirth, when she again received the last rites of the church.

After the age of fifty, her health improved, and remained strong for nearly another half century. Her generous heart told her that six sons were not enough. She and Hugh subsequently welcomed into their small home two additional foster sons who remained dear to her until the end of her days. In addition to raising her eight sons, Helen was a working woman. Her first job was as a telephone operator. Later she worked at Sacred Hearts School cafeteria, at the Haverhill Public Library, at Sears in Methuen, and for many years on the staff of the Merrimack Valley Elder Services. She retired from Elder Services at the age of 82, by which time she had become a trained paralegal. At the time of her retirement, she was honored with a column in the Boston Globe by Mike Barnicle, and by proclamations from the Massachusetts State Senate and House of Representatives. She found retirement dull, and at age 85 returned to work at the Merrimack Valley Elder Services. Helen's other adventures are too numerous to mention. She was an artist who created sculptures and vivid rugs, and always wished she had had the time to learn to play the banjo. Her holiday meals were prepared with great care, and were particularly memorable for her wonderful squash and mincemeat pies. Yet she always considered her family her most significant accomplishment. Using the knowledge she gained from another career as a real estate agent, she assisted her sons in purchasing their first homes. Her advice was always clear-eyed and delivered with a tangy bit of humor. She never lacked the willingness to express her disapproval of acts of injustice, or to offer her support to efforts to improve the world. Though very far from a wealthy woman, she was one of the first donors to public radio and television. She was curious, and open-minded in her assessments of others. She encouraged people to pursue their dreams, and to support the dreams of others. Perhaps because of the challenges she had faced in difficult childhood, hers was an optimism always tempered by a practical realism touched with humor. As she lay dying she was asked how she was doing and replied, "So far, so good." In her last year's one of her favorite expressions was "It's been a great trip."

Helen Bernadette Gavin Kelleher leaves a number of grateful descendants who include a nurse anesthetist, house painter, teacher, plumber, heavy equipment operators, authors and artists, a utility lineman and a general foreman for Haverhill's park and tree department.

These include her son Hugh Kelleher and his wife Susan Keller of Newburyport, Neil Kelleher and his wife Debra Gigliotti Kelleher of Haverhill, Timothy Kelleher of Newburyport, Gavin Kelleher and his wife Linda of Holiday, Florida, David Kelleher and his wife Heidi of Newburyport, Mark Kelleher and his wife Theresa of St. Pete Beach, Florida, Charlie Hoffmann of Haverhill, and David Mazur of New Hampshire. Her grandchildren are Meagan, Mary and her husband Nick Medugno, Neil and his wife Erica Daly Kelleher, Ryan, Evan, Lauren, Mackenzie, Cameron, David Paul and Shannon Kelleher. Her great-grandson is Cole Medugno. Others will follow. May they all be endowed with her courage and spirit. The family wishes to express its gratitude to the staff and to other families associated with the Hannah Dustin Health Care in Haverhill, where people took such fine care of Helen in her final years.

Helen will be laid to rest on her 97th birthday, Tuesday, December 4, beginning in the Driscoll Funeral Home, 309 So. Main Street, Bradford at 9:00 AM. Funeral Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in Sacred Hearts Church, 165 So. Main Street, Bradford at 10:00 AM. Interment will follow in St. James Cemetery, Primrose Street, Haverhill. Visiting hours will be held Monday in the Driscoll Funeral Home, 309 So. Main Street (Rte. 125), Bradford, from 4:00 to 8:00 PM. Relatives and friends are kindly invited to attend. Courtesy local transportation to the visitation will be provided on request by calling Patrick Driscoll at 978-374-0000. Contributions in Helen's memory may be made to the Hannah Dustin Activities Fund, Hannah Dustin Nursing Home, 126 Monument Street, Haverhill, 01832. For directions and online guestbook, please visit www.driscollcares.com