After moving to South Devon, NB, she attended Devon Superior School and Fredericton High School. At age 17 she joined the war effort by working in a munitions factory near Hull, Québec.

At 21, she enlisted in the CWACs, taking her basic training in Kitchener, ON,

Followin this, she was posted to Saint John, NB, where she met her husband, also a member of the Canadian Army.

After the war, they lived in Jacquet River NB and then settled in Campbellton NB where Helen was employed at Soldiers Memorial Hospital.

In retirement, she eventually moved to Oshawa to live with her daughter and granddaughter.