Helen “Heddie” (Root) Kent, 92, a lifelong Concord resident, died on Friday, March 20, at her home on Sandy Pond Road, where she had been born and lived all her life. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on March 12.

Born on October 8, 1916 she was the daughter of the late George Frederick and Olive (Gage) Root. She attended Concord Academy and Peter Bulkeley School in Concord. In 1934, she was a member of the first graduating class at the new Concord High School, in the building now known as The Emerson Umbrella. On April 1, 1993, she was honored by Concord-Carlisle High School for her distinguished career. She completed a postgraduate course in 1935. During the summer of 1936, she attended the Gloucester School of the Theater.

From 1938 to 1948 she worked as a merchandise buyer at the fledgling Country Store in Concord. In 1942 she was married to Howard C. ”Tack” Kent and enjoyed a brief honeymoon “at the end of Route 2” before Tack returned to his unit in the army. During that year her younger sister Olive “Pete”, Susan’s mother, developed multiple sclerosis from which she died thirteen years later. Heddie devoted herself to the care of her bedridden sibling, helped by the other members of the family, numbering eleven, who lived together at 82 Sandy Pond Road. After her sister’s death in 1955, she worked for a while at the Concord Music Store on Main Street, and in 1958 she became the children’s librarian at the Lincoln Public Library, retiring in 1983. In 1981 she rode on a float reading a book and surrounded by children in Lincoln’s July Fourth parade being honored as “a very special person” for her work in the Lincoln Library.

Active in theater since 1932, Mrs. Kent served as an usher for the first performance of “Little Women” at the former Veterans Building, now known as 51 Walden. In 1936, at the age of nineteen, she became a member of the Concord Players. She served on the executive board and worked tirelessly backstage on props and set dressing for many years, with an occasional foray on to the “boards”. In the early nineties the New England Theatre Conference awarded her a distinguished service award. In July, 2001, she traveled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to be honored by The American Association of Community Theatre. She was the recipient of the Robert E. Gard Superior Volunteer Award, presented to “individuals over the age of 65 who have faithfully served community theatre on a non-paid basis for many years.”

During the 1960's, she operated the Concord Players Children's Theater Workshop and was instrumental in the organization of the Lincoln Library Players, a children's theater workshop. She produced and directed many of the plays she had written with Betty Gage to be performed by the third grade at Brooks School. She and Mrs. Gage would take a well-known fairy tale and, using folk tunes from all over the world, create a musical show.

In the late 1930's, Mrs. Kent was one of a group of people who started the dance parties at the Concord Scout House, a tradition that is still carried on today. A longtime member of the English Country Dance Society in Boston, she was a dancer on their demonstration team. She taught English folk dancing at Mr. Surrette's Music School in Concord. She was also a Girl Scout leader in Concord for twenty years. From 1933 to 1943 she sang in the choir at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Concord and was a member of the Concord Chorus.

She is survived by her niece Susan R Davies and her husband Christopher and their sons William C and Matthew E; her nephews Michael R and Patrick F McGrath; and her husband’s nieces Lesley M and Sally C Kent. She was the sister of the late Anne R McGrath and Olive R Renhult.

A service and a celebration of her life will take place on April 18. The memorial service will be held at 4:00 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church, 81 Elm Street, Concord. Following the service, there will be a reception at 51 Walden Street, Concord, and a celebration of her life beginning at 6:00 p.m.

Contributions in her memory may be made to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Attention, Donations, 733 Third Avenue, 3rd, Floor, New York, NY 10017.