Helen Kent Longley

Helen Kent Longley was born April 17, 1922 in Baltimore, MD, the only child of James Walter Kent and Alberta Post Kent. She spent part of her childhood in Southampton, Long Island, the home of her sea-faring Post ancestors. Helen met her future husband and love of her life, James Baird Longley, when they were teenagers at a summer camp in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. She graduated from Goucher College, in Baltimore, MD, in 1943 with a B.A. in English. At that time, she was recruited into the Navy (WAVES) to serve as a Lieutenant (junior grade), doing code-breaking work in Washington, DC and Hawaii. Helen and Jim were married on November 5, 1944 in Baltimore. After a separation of several years during the War, they both used the G.I. Bill to attend graduate school at Cambridge University in England, where Helen earned an M.A. in English in 1949. Her years at Cambridge were some of the most formative of her life.

Helen and Jim started their family in Wheaton, MD, and, in 1960, Helen began her career as a history teacher at Maret School in Washington, DC. After their move to Louisville, KY, Helen continued her stellar teaching career at Louisville Collegiate School from 1963 until 1989. There she started the school’s Advanced Placement program and chaired the History Department, herself teaching Ancient, Medieval, Modern European, and American history, as well as Humanities and Current Events. Helen was a valued mentor to her fellow teachers, and is remembered by many of her former students as their best and most inspiring teacher ever. Later on, she served on Collegiate’s Board of Trustees. In 2018, she was given the special honor of being awarded Collegiate’s first Faculty and Staff Legacy Award.

Ever dedicated to the appreciation of human history, Helen travelled extensively in the world, and was an aficionado and patron of the arts. She cared deeply about social justice issues and the environment. In her retirement years, she enjoyed doing extensive genealogical research on her and her husband’s family trees.

After a long life of learning and intellectual pursuits, Helen was afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease in her later years. Despite the ravages of this cruel disease, she long maintained a grace, a warm heart, an expressive flair, and a love for many of the same things that had inspired her in her prime years – art and music, the beauty of nature, and an appreciation of world cultures, especially Native Americans.

Helen is survived by a daughter, Gillian Elizabeth Longley (Longmont, CO), and two sons, Stephen Kent Longley (Crestwood, KY) and William Harding Longley (Brooklin, ME), five grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by Jim, her husband of 69 years, by her firstborn unnamed son born prematurely, and her son, Andrew Jessup Longley.

Contributions in Helen’s memory may be made to the Louisville Collegiate School, Louisville, KY, either to Collegiate’s Helen Kent Longley Endowment Fund (supporting distinguished teaching and program development), or to its Endowment for Minority Financial Aid. No public service is planned.