Helen Bevington Biography | Poet

Helen Smith Bevington (1906-2001) was an American poet, prose author, and educator. She was born in Afton, New York. Bevington was reared in Worcester, New York where her father was a Methodist minister. Her younger brother, Boyce Smith (later known as Rev. Ray Vaughn, was also a Methodist minister. Bevington attended the University of Chicago and earned a degree in philosophy. She proceeded to write a thesis about Thoreau, earning a master’s degree from Columbia University. In 1928, she married Merle M. Bevington. The couple travelled abroad, returning in 1929 in response to the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Both Bevingtons taught English at Duke University starting in the 1940s. Bevington's Duke teaching career spanned from 1943 to 1976. Merle Bevington died in 1964.. American poet prose author and educator