Obituaries - Death Notices - Funeral Cards

November 23, 1940, Middletown Journal

MRS. HELEN VAIL DIES AFTER LONG ILLNESS
    Losing a courageous battle for health and life, Mrs. Helen Boyd Vail, 39, of 512 South Main Street, died Saturday morning, the victim of a lingering illness that gradually sapped her vitality but never conquered her courageous spirit.
    Mrs. Vail, wife of Marc S. Vail, died at 11 A.M. at Middletown Hospital, where she had been under treatment the last six months. Realizing that she suffered from an illness which gave her one in a thousand chances for life, the case drew the wide sympathy and admiration from friends for the way she faced her fate, unafraid and cheerful.
    Although health failed her more than a year ago, Mrs. Vail always referred to her condition lightly. She refused to give up normal actvities and only last spring took an eastern trip with her son.
    During her long and patient struggle to regain the vigor for which she was so popular, her mother, Mrs. John W. Boyd, was in constant attendance at her bedside. The two, mother and daughter, had been inseparable companions.
    Mrs. Vail was born in the Boyd homestead, where she spent virtually all of her life. She was a member of one of Middletown's leading families and took her place in the community as such.
    Reared in the First Presbyterian church, she was one of the leaders in the younger circles. For years she was a teacher of a class in the Sunday School and one of the dependable workers when a call came from any of the departments of the church.
    Following her graduation from Middletown High School, she entered Harcourt and was graduated from that institution.
    Of charming manner, she enjoyed a place of high regard and admiration in a large circle. To mourn her loss are her husband, a son by a previous marriage, Boyd Snyder, and her mother.
    Arrangements for the funeral are incomplete.