Grace Helen Constantine, 92, passed away Monday evening from a short, unexpected illness. Grace was more commonly known as Helen.

She was born in 1933 in Stigler, OK. to Grace Beatrice and James Napoleon Baxter. In her teens her family moved to Earlimart, CA., and later to Spokane, WA., where she graduated high school. Public speaking was among her school activities. She later studied at Ventura Junior College in California, and then met her future husband, Harold E. Constantine. Harold was a member of the Air Force. The couple lived in various parts of the country in the early years of their marriage, including 18 months on the U.S. territory of Guam on the Pacific Ocean. She later helped her family move from government housing on Pease Air Force Base in Newington, NH, to Dover, NH. during the Cuban Missile Crisis of the 1960s.

The family lived for many years in Dover, NH. During that time she worked as the department secretary in the engineering department of the General Electric meter factory in Somersworth, NH. Later, the family moved to Pittsfield MA. for her husband´s job. The couple retired to an old historic farm in Wakefied, NH. that had been a stagecoach stop.

Helen lived out the last of her life in the Rochester, NH. farm house of her daughter Kristin Constantine Cox and her husband Robert Cox, their house has numerous flower gardens.

Helen was a very industrious woman who kept her homes in immaculate condition. She was also very good at decorating any home in which she lived. Her main hobby was gardening. She transformed the houses she lived in with beautiful gardens. Helen loved nothing better than going to local greenhouses to buy new flowering plants. She was known for her gardens when she lived at Cocheco River Estates in Rochester, NH., and worked with her flowers there until her late 80s.

Another of her passions was genealogy. She kept extensive records and was proud of her background as a descendant of the country’s first English immigrants into VA. Other ancestors were part of the country’s western movement of pioneers.

Helen also made sure her children had a love of reading and learning with frequent public library trips as well as having lots of books of their own to learn about the world.

For many years she made an annual summer trip to the Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, MA.

Helen spent many years as a member of and attending the First United Methodist Church in Rochester, NH. She also volunteered in the soup kitchen well into her 80's. She was very loved and respected among her parish and her faith was something that was a big part of who she was. She was as close to being an angel as one could be.

Helen leaves her sons Harold E. Constantine and his wife Lorraine of UT. and Robert L. Constantine and his wife Lindsey Kipp of ME. and daughters Kristin Constantine Cox and her husband Robert Cox of Rochester NH. and Sandra E. Constantine of Mexico City, Mex. She also leaves behind eight grandchildren and four great grand children. Her husband predeceased her.

Viewing hours and service will be at R.M. Edgerly & Son Funeral Home in Rochester Wednesday, May 20 from 4 to 6 p.m. a service will follow immediately at 6 pm at Edgerly Funeral Home, with burial in Pinehill Cemetery in Dover Thursday, May 21 at 10 am.