When R. Nathaniel Dett passed away in 1943, the surviving family did not remain in Rochester too long. Real estate records in Monroe County (not shown to maintain privacy) show the house changing hands in 1948. In 1949, The New York Age ran a New Year’s Day article about a Long Island social event honoring Helen Elise Smith and her daughters, Helen Dett Noyes (soon to be Hopkins) and Josephine Dett Gregory (later Breelove).
Helen Elise Smith Dett passed away on 2 October 1950 in Queens, NY, per an obituary from the 5 October 1950 edition of New York’s Daily News. Dett’s biographers (Vivian Flagg McBrier and Ann Key Simpson) do not seem to have been aware of her passing. I have been updating Helen Elise Smith’s Wikipedia page in the meantime.
Both Helen Elise Hopkins and Josephine Elizabeth Breelove had children of their own. Should any of their descendants wish to be featured on this blog, I would invite them to reach out to me on LinkedIn or leave a public comment below.