Helen Wright Symonds, 92, died June 24, in the Milford Regional Medical Center, Milford. She was the wife of the late Robert T. Symonds, who died in 2002.

Mrs. Symonds was one of the first women underwriters for the Aetna Insurance Company in Hartford, Conn., and after moving to Milford served as a teacher in the Milford school system.

Mrs. Symonds was born Aug. 4, 1916 in Putnam, Conn., the daughter of the late Fred Leslie and Elizabeth May Beebe Wright and lived in both Hartford and Portland, Maine, as a child. When they were first married, Helen and Bob lived in a cottage at the entrance to Hamilton Harbor, Bermuda, adjacent to Two Rock Passage. They moved to Milford in 1952 and to Hopedale in 1983. Helen and Bob also had a home on the Vineyard, restoring an old fisherman’s cottage known as the Matchbox, located near Edgartown center. They also loved travel and over the years visited Kenya, Australia, Greece, and Eastern Europe.

Mrs. Symonds graduated from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley in 1938, with a major in economics. For many years, Helen was an avid artist, with a special interest in still lifes using oil, watercolor and chalk. These works continue to be displayed in her homes and in the homes of her children. Helen also had a keen interest in literature, particularly short stories and political nonfiction. Her children and grandchildren could count on receiving a book for birthdays and Christmas which then became topics for discussion at family dinners. In recent years, Mrs. Symonds was a board member of the Friends of Bancroft Library in Hopedale and until her death was an active member of a book club in Hopedale that she organized with a group of friends.

Mrs. Symonds is a former volunteer for the Visiting Nurses Association in Milford. She was a member of the First Congregational Church of Milford and served as Sunday school superintendent for several years.

She is survived by two daughters Robin Symonds of Tewksbury and Barbara, wife of Gerald, Beltz, of Lexington; three grandchildren, Christopher Beltz of Jackson Hole, Wyo., Nora Beltz of Plymouth, N.H., and Martha A. Beltz of Lexington. She was predeceased by one sister, Winifred L. Wright, and two grandchildren

Memorial services will be held on Sunday, June 28, at 3 p.m. in the First Congregational Church of Milford, 4 Congress street in Milford, Mass.

Visiting hours will be Friday, June 26, 2009 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Buma Sargeant Funeral Home (bumafuneralhome.com) at 42 Congress street in Milford. Interment will be private in Hancock, N.H.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, Vineyard Haven, or to the End of Life Program, c/o the Foundation Office, Milford Regional Medical Center.