PROVIDENCE -- During her life, Helen Walker Raleigh displayed a deep concern for replacing trees lost to damage, disease and construction in her home city of Providence.

And now that she has died, she has left $10 million to The Rhode Island Foundation, with a quarter of that amount dedicated to the conservation of trees.

"I think her passion for trees will be her largest legacy," foundation President and chief executive officer Ronald V. Gallo said.

The $10 million marks one of the largest bequests in the foundation's 90-year history. While two bequests have reached $35 million, gifts of this size are significant, foundation officials said.

Raleigh, of Medway Street, was 87 when she died in August 2005. She had no heirs.

"She wanted to be remembered and she wanted to give back," Gallo said.

And now that her estate is almost settled, it is clear that she left $10 million to be used as follows:

$2.5 million for the ongoing conservation of Rhode Island trees

$3 million for humane animal care, services or programs, and to support "no kill" shelters

$3 million for research or treatment of macular degeneration, a condition from which she suffered. It is a leading cause of blindness in people over 60

$750,000 in permanent endowment to benefit the Providence Athenaeum

$750,000 in permanent endowment to benefit equally the Boys & Girls Club of Providence, the Boy Scouts of America Narragansett Council, and the Girl Scouts of America

Raleigh's father was W. Howard Walker Jr., whose grandfather founded the well-known Providence architectural firm Willam R. Walker & Son. The firm's work included the state armory, the Majestic Theater, the Brown University library and the former Fall River City Hall. Raleigh's mother, Helen (Waterhouse) Walker, raised Helen and her sister.

She met and married James C. Raleigh during World War II in Austria, where she was an ambulance driver. James Raleigh was from St. Louis, and they returned there after the war. But they moved to Providence when he became an appraiser for the real-estate firm of G.L. and H.J. Gross. He retired in 1987 and died a decade later at age 89.

The foundation described Helen Raleigh as one of the "pioneers who helped reclaim the Benefit Street area on Providence's East Side in the 1970s."

The group said she "had a strong sense of quality and design, which led to her interest in all types of handwork, flower arranging and horticulture."

She exhibited and judged at flower shows in New York, Boston and Philadelphia. She was the first master judge in the Rhode Island Federation of Garden Clubs. And she wrote articles on flower arranging for various horticultural publications.

She was particularly concerned about the loss of urban trees and the maintenance of their replacements. And she had established an endowment at the foundation to maintain trees planted through the Providence neighborhood planting program.

With her death, a considerable part of her estate came to the foundation for the additional endowments in her name. "The foundation had a long, wonderful relationship with Mrs. Raleigh," Gallo said. "She had a great sense of humor and an equally powerful sense of compassion. We are honored to keep her causes and her legacy alive."

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