Helen Heard "Polly" Wetherbee

Helen "Polly" (Carroll) Heard Wetherbee, 95, of Manchester, loving wife of the late Arthur E. Wetherbee and the late Louis F. Heard, died Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, at a local convalescent home.

She was born in Hartford on Aug. 31, 1918, daughter of William and Margaret (Bissell) Carroll and was raised in Hartford. She graduated from Hartford Public High School and Mount Holyoke College and earned a master's degree from the University of Hartford. Prior to retiring, Polly was a biology and ecology teacher at South Windsor High School for 16 years. She was a longtime resident of Manchester and a member of St. Mary's Episcopal Church. She was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, a women educator's organization, and was also a former board member of the Lutz Children's Museum, and a member of the League of Women Voters. She was an artist throughout her life, a member of the West Hartford Art League, and had many one-woman shows, of which she was very proud. She was also very proud that she was a direct descendent of the John Bissell family of Windsor and the Storrs family of Mansfield.

She is survived by two sons and a daughter, Gary L. Heard, and his wife, Sara, of Brooklyn, N.Y., Laurie H. Berg of Pawcatuck, Peter A. Heard, and his wife, Beth, of Manchester; and five grandchildren, Beth (Heard) Provo, and her husband, Khalil, Jocelyn Berg, Robert Berg, Matthew Heard, Marjorie Heard; a great-granddaughter, Rosalia Provo; her sister, Alice Storrs Stambaugh of Medford, Ore., and several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by a brother, John Bissell Carroll.

Visiting hours will be held at the Holmes Funeral Home, 400 Main St., Manchester, on Monday, Dec. 23, 2013, from 4 to 7 p.m. Burial will be private in the East Cemetery in Manchester.

Memorial contributions may be made to St. Mary's Book of Remembrance, the Lutz Children's Museum, or the West Hartford Art League.

To leave a message for her family please visit

www.holmes-watkinsfuneralhomes.com