PORTLAND – Helen Small Hinckley of Gray, died Aug. 9. She was a member of the Gray Congregational Church.

She was born April 16, 1912, in New Gloucester, the daughter of Charles White Small and Lena Yeaton Small. She had one sister, Elizabeth (Betty), and four brothers: Charles, Elliott, Benjamin and William. The only one living at this time is William (Bill) of Auburn.

She graduated from New Gloucester High School, Class of 1930, and from Gorham Normal, Class of 1932, where she was very active in sports. Later, she received a bachelor of science degree in education from University of Maine in Orono.

She taught 10 years in Gray, New Gloucester and Cape Elizabeth before marrying Russell C. Hinckley, an insurance underwriter from Lexington, Mass. After their son, William, was born, they lived in Somerville and Winchester, Mass., for four years. They then returned to Maine because of Russ’ ill health.

She returned to teaching the first grade at Memorial School in New Gloucester, and then taught in Auburn schools for seven years. She returned to Memorial School in New Gloucester with the promise of a smaller class and a larger salary. (She had taught 40 first-graders the year she went to Auburn.) There she taught first grade again until she retired after 35 years of teaching mostly first grade.

After Russ’ death in 1968, she sold their home on Gloucester Hill and moved to an apartment on the Old Portland Road in Gray. She lived there for 17 years until Apple Tree Village was opened; she was the second tenant to move in. She worked parttime at Cook’s Country Store for seven years and did volunteer work for the school department, nursing homes, Camp Sunshine and the Gray Game Farm.

During her early retirement, she did some traveling: Hawaii three times, Bermuda twice, England, Scotland and Wales, Canada and parts of the U.S. Her favorite places were Hawaii and Scotland.

She enjoyed dancing, crocheting, gardening, watching sports on TV (especially the Red Sox), playing cribbage, listening to good music and having parties for family and friends. She loved her little first graders and enjoyed teaching very much. She also enjoyed working at Cook’s Store and meeting people.

She is survived by one son, William, and his wife, Carol, of Estero, Fla.; two grandsons, Peter, a lawyer in Manchester, N.H., and Brodie, and his wife, Karen, and their daughter, Yulia, of Scarborough; a stepdaughter, Anne Engel and her husband, Robert, of Kennebunk; four stepgrandchildren, Kristopher Voisine, his wife, Jennifer, and their three sons, Corbin, Nikolas and Tyler of South Portland, and Robin, Fae and Buddy of New Hampshire, and their six children; 17 nieces and nephews; and several great-nieces and nephews.