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Welcome and Overview | Mission | History | Committees | Council | Get Involved | Celebrate Tufts! Celebrate Tufts!
Biography Born in Natick, Massachusetts, Helen Dobbins Taylor moved to Brighton by age three. Her father worked for the Boston Elevated Railway, now the MBTA, and encouraged her early interest in medicine. "His feeling was, whether you were a girl or a boy, you could do whatever you wanted to do if you made up your mind to do it," says Helen. Interested in attending Tufts Medical School to become a doctor, she entered Tufts College and pursued a major in chemistry, graduating as one of 60 women in the Class of 1936. Like many students attending Tufts during the Depression, Helen commuted to college all four years. That meant an hour-and-a-half trek by streetcar (car fare was 10 cents) twice a day. Disappointed when she was not accepted to medical school, she nonetheless went on to enjoy a career as a chemist, working first as a lab technician at the Boston Dispensary (the beginning of the New England Medical Center) and in Connecticut at a mental hospital. At the onset of World War II she joined Boston Gas Company, one of the first women chemists ever hired there. At Boston Gas, she met her future husband; they were married in 1944 and settled in Medford. Together they raised three children. Since her husband's death, Helen has kept active in Tufts affairs and quilting; she indulges her passion for fabric by traveling to quilting events across the country. Her stunning creations have been displayed in local shows. In the past 25 years she has rarely missed an Alumni Weekend and can always be found at the Cavalcade of Classes under the bright blue banner for the indomitable Class of 1936.
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