PLUMMER-Hellen I. Mother of Pulitzer Prize winning poet James I. Merrill and former wife of Merrill Lynch founder Charles E. Merrill, died December 18, 2000 in Atlanta, GA., at the age of 102. Born Hellen Ingram in 1898, Mrs. Plummer was raised in Jacksonville, FL. After graduating from high school, she worked as society editor of a Jacksonville newspaper from 1917 until 1922 when, as publisher and editor, she began her own biweekly paper of social happenings in Jacksonville and Miami. In the mid-1920s, she studied at Columbia University in New York and became an almostadopted daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Conde Nast of publishing fame. She learned to know many of their celebrated friends, including Charlie Chaplin and Katherine Hepburn. In 1925, she married Charles Merrill and, in the following year, gave birth to James. For some years, they lived in South Hampton. Among her house guests from New York's creative community were such notables as George Gershwin, who, during one summer there, wrote the score for ''Babes in Arms.'' Mrs. Plummer's marriage to Mr. Merrill ended in divorce in 1939. Mr. Merrill died in 1955. During World War II, Mrs. Plummer served as an American Red Cross volunteer in the Pacific Theater. Stationed on Guam, she was in charge of receiving and assigning some 1,200 Red Cross girls who passed through her depot. Mrs. Plummer remarried in 1950. Her second husband Brigadier General William L. Plummer and Mr. Merrill, both U.S. Army Air Corps pilots, had flown together in World War I. In World War II, General Plummer was in command of Orly Field in Paris. After the war, he was assigned to accompany Winston Churchill on his tour of the U.S. General Plummer died in 1969. James Merrill's book of poetry ''Nights and Days'' received the 1967 National Book Award. His 1976 Pulitzer Prize was for ''Divine Comedies.'' He died in 1995. Mrs. Plummer was a charter member of the Junior League of Jacksonville. She was a member of the Piedmont Driving Club in Atlanta and the Everglades Club in Palm Beach. Mrs. Plummer is survived by her step-children Doris Merrill Magowan (Mrs. Robert A.) of San Francisco, Charles E. Merrill, Jr., of Boston and Betty Plummer Potts (Mrs. Thomas B.) of Anniston, AL. A memorial service is scheduled for 11:00AM Saturday, January 20th at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Philip, 2744 Peachtree Road, N.W., Atlanta, GA. The Rt. Rev. Charles J. Child, Jr., will officiate. Prior to the service, beginning at 10:00 AM, the family will receive friends in the Gould Room. In memory of Mrs. Plummer, contributions may be made to the Memorial Fund, the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Philip. For information H.M. Patterson & Son, Spring Hill Chapel

Originally published in the New York Times, December 23, 2000