Helen Winter

   Born in Hartford in 1915, Helen Cutler had a strong artistic bent from an early age, along with the self-discipline to follow through on her creative inspirations.
   She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College, and later married John Keyes Winter in 1940. They were together for 63 years and had four children. John always encouraged her to pursue her interests.

   In 1968, she founded the Helen Winter Gallery in Farmington, dealing in art and antiques. She became an expert in New England furniture and export Chinese porcelain.  In 1970, when Winter learned that an old mill on the Farmington River was going to be torn down for development, she decided to save it. She connected with Mary Rourk, the wife of the last miller in Farmington, and, in 1970, Helen and her husband bought the old mill.  

   The frame of the old mill, dating from 1650, was still intact. A warehouse extension had been added in the 1920s. Under Helen Winter’s leadership, the site became a vibrant boutique shopping center. There was Helen’s antique store, a needlework shop called “The Needle Loft”, a bookstore, and a restaurant called “Soupcon,” with tables outside on the lawn overlooking the river. In 1979, Helen started Winter Associates, Inc., Auctioneers and Appraisers, which still exists. “She had a fabulous reputation, “said Linda Stamm, now the sole owner of Winter Associates, Inc., “someone who ran a very high-caliber antiques shop and was extremely honest.”

   Winter’s last major project was an effort to harness the power of the river to generate hydroelectricity by reusing and adapting the existing water turbine that had originally turned the grinding stones of the flour mill. At the inauguration of the mini-power plant, however, the intense vibration caused by the turbine caused the whole building to shake and Helen ran around frantically to rescue falling china before the system could be shut off. Nothing was lost, but the problem could not be solved and the power plant was sadly abandoned as it was fatally incompatible with an antique store.

   After her retirement, she dedicated herself to painting, working in oils, watercolor, and acrylic. She studied at the Lyme Academy of Fine Acts and served on their Board. She showed her work in juried shows at art association galleries in Old Lyme and elsewhere in southern Connecticut.

  “The longer we live,” Helen Winter said, “the more there is to learn, and the more exciting it is to dig out the answers.”