Helen Isabel Dawe, 1914-1983, was born in Vancouver, BC. She was the daughter of Captain [Samuel Dawe]? and Sechelt pioneer resident [Ada Dawe]? whose parents, [Thomas Cook]? and [Sarah Cook]?, were among the first white settlers in Sechelt, taking up permanent residence in 1894.

Helen received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1935, a Bachelor of Library Sciences in 1947, and a diploma in agriculture and poultry husbandry in 1949 from the University of British Columbia, and a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1937 from the University of Toronto. During World War II she served as a coder in the Royal Canadian Navy in London, England and joined the US Air Force in 1950 serving as librarian at George Airforce base, Califonia. On her return to Canada she worked in the Victoria Legislative Library and was head of the Acquisition Department in the Vancouver Public Library until 1965. She retired to Sechelt to work until 1972. While amassing her collection of Sechelt's history, she served on Sechelt's Intermediate Care Society's committee, was a director of the Sechelt Marsh Protective Society, on the parks committee responsible for Kinnikinick Park and a member of St. Mary's Hospital Auxiliary, Sechelt Branch.

A book [Helen Dawe's Sechelt]? was put together in the 1990s by an editor at the request of Helen's sister after Helen's death.