Helen Keltie Lillya, widow of University of Michigan Professor Emeritus of Trumpet Clifford P. Lillya, died November 27, 2007, at the Chelsea Retirement Community in Chelsea, Michigan. She was a graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in history. Helen was an accomplished cellist, and worked at the National Music Camp (now the Interlochen Arts Camp), starting in the early 1950s and retiring as personnel administrator in 1972.

She and Cliff were childhood sweethearts, having met in the first grade (!) and had been married almost seventy years when he died in 1998. They were inseparable, yet distinctly different in personality. She knew and corresponded with countless former students and friends. She was the epitome of integrity, class, and character. Helen loved reading, gardening, traveling, a warm bath after breakfast, and a martini before dinner. Her favorite place was the family cottage on Duck Lake near Interlochen. Helen was known to her family and friends for her empathy, her gift for being content with what life brought her, and her signature dish of pork chops with scalloped potatoes and onions.

She is fondly remembered by generations of students, and it seemed to all us that she never missed any University of Michigan School of Music concerts, be it concert or symphony band, orchestra, choir, not to mention numerous ITG Conferences. I remember one afternoon when I was to have a session with Cliff in their home and he was late due to a doctor's appointment. It was one of those days when everything had to run right to the minute, and he was late. As she worked in the kitchen, she said, "Why don't you play for me? I've heard lots of trumpet players over the years, and I can tell you what to do." I wouldn't trade that afternoon for anything.

Helen would have been 100 years old on March 15. She is survived by her devoted daughter Ann and son Peter, grandchildren Ann, Eric, Carolyn, and John, and several great-grandchildren -- missed by them, as well as all of us who knew and loved her, such a rare and beautiful gem of a woman.