Archives West Finding Aid

Dr. Helen G. Smith retired from Washington State University in June 1961 after 36 years as a teacher with and chairperson of the Department of Physical Education and Recreation. She was born in Toledo, Ohio, on July 16, 1896, and died in December 1985. She graduated from Oberlin College in 1919 and was employed afterwords as Director of Physical Education in the Bronx, New York, Y.W.C.A. In 1922 she accepted the position of Director of Physical Education in Women's College, Istanbul, Turkey. In 1925 she began working at the State College of Washington as an instructor and in 1926 became the chairperson of the Department of Physical Education for Women. She held this position until she retired in 1961. In 1931 she obtained a Masters Degree from Columbia University and in 1944 received her Ph.D. from New York University. During her lifetime she enjoyed fishing and spent most of her vacations and her spare time becoming proficient at the sport. She also enjoyed writing about her adventures from when she first taught herself how to fish, by observing other fishermen, to her vacations at extremely distant and unusual locations. She enjoyed looking for the perfect fishing hole.