Clementine (Clemi) Inez Coblyn, of Lexington and Oak Bluffs died peacefully on Thursday, Oct. 14, in Amherst, after a long illness. She was 81.

Born Clementine Coley in Creedmoor, N.C., on Dec. 1, 1929, she was her high school valedictorian, and later repeated the feat as a business major at her college, North Carolina Central. The adventurous Clementine moved away from home in the 1940s, working as a secretary in segregated, post-war Washington, DC. In 1952, she married World War II and Korean war veteran Lieut. George H. Coblyn. They remained together for 50 years until his death in 2002.

She was well traveled, including postings in Italy and Germany with her children and husband who retired from the Army as a major in 1961. Her young family traveled widely throughout Europe and Northern Africa. Clementine also took safaris to Kenya and Senegal with her sister in law, Janet Ross.

During the 1970s, Clementine was a pioneer in teaching data entry which led to the word processor and computer revolution. She continued her education and earned her master’s degree in library science from Simmons College in Boston. Her long career in library science culminated with her being named head of circulation at the Hayden Science Library at MIT in Cambridge. One of her many accomplishments was transforming the traditional Dewey Decimal Card system to the automated system currently in use.

Clementine continued to blaze trails for African American women. In 1980, she drew on her business education and realized her dream of owning four apartment buildings. She managed the buildings in the Jamaica Plain area of Boston.

She was also an accomplished gardener, tending her beloved gardens in Lexington and at her vacation home on Martha’s Vineyard well into her 70s.

She is survived by her two sons, George Jr. and Michael, her daughters in law, Pamela and Rachel; three grandchildren, Christopher, 27, Benjamin, 24, and Andrew, 17; her sisters, Dorothy and Alene; her brother, Jake; and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband George and brother Lennis.

Services were held on Wednesday, Oct. 20, at Grace Episcopal Church in Amherst. She will be interred with her husband at the National Veterans Cemetery in Bourne. A memorial register may be viewed at douglassfuneral.com.