Barbara (Sutton) Casey Helmsdorff, 85, died July 2 at home surrounded by her family.

Born Aug. 24, 1924 in Boston, Mrs. Helmsdorff was the daughter of the late Alexander J. Sutton and the late Mary Francis (O’Brien) Sutton. She was raised in the city’s Charlestown neighborhood and fondly recalled afternoons spent at Fenway Park watching Ted Williams.

Mrs. Helmsdorff graduated from Cathedral High School in Boston in 1942 and the former Boston Teacher’s College in 1946. She earned a Master’s Degree in special education in 1980 from Regis College.

Mrs. Helmsdorff was a passionate advocate for education and taught generations of children in the Boston Public Schools.

She lived for many years in Westwood before retiring to Falmouth, where she was a communicant of St. Anthony’s Roman Catholic Church. She resided most recently at The Village at Duxbury.

Mrs. Helmsdorff loved dancing, particularly the jitterbug and tap, and had a great interest in Ireland, politics and religion. She was a voracious reader who seldom began a morning without a cup of tea and The Boston Globe.

She leaves her husband, Stanley Helmsdorff; two daughters, Marianne Reinhalter and her husband, Emil, of Duxbury, and Patricia Casey and her husband, Michael Coney, of Dartmouth; and five grandchildren. She was predeceased by four siblings, Robert Sutton, Bill Sutton, Helen Bowman and Dorothy Bogan. She was the wife of the late Walter E. Casey, Jr.

A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at noon on July 7, at Holy Family Church in Duxbury. Burial will follow at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association of Massachusetts or Cranberry Hospice of Plymouth.