Kate Adams was the second wife of Helen's father Arthur H. Keller and many years younger than him. Helen's mother Kate Keller had named her daughter after her mother called Helen Everett. Helen had contracted an illness which closed her eyes and ears and plunged her into the unconsciousness of a new-born child. It was called an acute congestion of the stomach and brain. It was from this period that Helen remembered the tenderness with which her mother tried to soothe her in her wailing hours of fret and pain. She tried to placate her child as Helen woke from sleep and turned her eyes to find her vision getting dimmer. Her mother succeeded in making Helen understand a good deal about different kinds of everyday things and Helen always knew when she wished her to bring something. Helen owed to her all the loving wisdom that was bright and good. Helen was extremely attached to her mother, she was also jealous of her sister because she thought of her as an intruder between mother and daughter. Kate was someone whom Helen admired and loved deeply, Helen revered her mother.