NORTHAMPTON - Helen Benham Bishop died Nov. 12, 2009, in Bourne.

Born March 6, 1911, in Hartford, Conn., to Laura Bannister Benham and Richard Edward Benham, she was the oldest of three children: Jane was her adored sister and Tom her inspiring brother. They grew up in Pittsburgh and later moved to Ardmore, Pa. She attended Goucher College, and was graduated with honors, and voted into Phi Beta Kappa, in 1933. She married David Wakefield Bishop in 1939.

She had a distinguished career in college administration. For six years she served as assistant to the dean at Swarthmore College. For 24 years she worked at Smith College, beginning as assistant to the academic dean before the president named her registrar in 1960, a position she held until she retired in 1976. In Northampton she participated in a local book club, volunteered at Cooley Dickinson Hospital and served on various volunteer boards before moving to Falmouth in 2005.

She will be missed by her friends and family: daughter Jane, of Falmouth; son Tim, of Ipswich; granddaughters Rebecca, of Portland, Maine, Elisabeth of St. Augustine, Fla., and Margaret of Pelham; six great-grandchildren, Tim, Alex, Jake, Simone, Isabelle and Elena.

Helen loved the sea. She spent childhood summers at Hawk's Nest Beach in Connecticut, summered as an adult in Damariscotta, Maine, and spent much time on Cape Cod. She loved the transatlantic oceanliners and made crossings aboard the Normandie, Bremen, Europa, Gripsholm, Stockholm, Queen Mary, and the Queen Elizabeth.

An engaging conversationalist with the gifts of a commanding intellect, love of languages and literature, and an open mind, the John Masefield poem "Sea Fever" captures her essence:

"I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life, To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife; And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing sea rover, And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."

A private service will be held this winter.