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Helen Hiller

Jun 18, 2018

Centenarian Helen Hiller passed away at age 102 this past September 25, 2017 in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.

Mrs. Hiller was born on December 23, 1914 In Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, the daughter of William English and Amanda Weis. She was married to Charles Hiller who pre-deceased her in 1976. She lost her son Larry in an automobile accident.

Much of Helen Hiller’s life revolved around music., from her early piano lessons to her becoming a drummer for her high school drum and bugle corps in Chicago. Her drumming talents led to be becoming a part of the Ina Ray Hutton Band who toured the United States in the 1950s. In time she formed her own female/comedy band, The Quadettes, playing for a number of years in and around Chicago. She earned a Masters Degree from Culver–Stockton College in Canton, Missouri.

In the 1970s, while a representative for the Wurlitzer Piano Company, she connected with Ken Darrell, whom she’d known from some earlier radio appearances. Her friendship with Mr. Darrell eventually brought Helen to Nashua where she taught piano at Darrell’s Music Hall. It was the Darrell family (Ken Darrell passed away in 2007) and the employees at Darrell’s Music Hall who formed her social circle during much of the latter years of her life. While in Nashua Mrs. Hiller also taught music at Catholic schools in Malden and Everett, Massachusetts.

Reflecting her high school experience Helen was a strong supporter of, and advocate for, drum and bulge corps, especially Nashua’s Spartans of which she was an avid follower.

Mrs. Hiller is survived by two cousins, Jim McGowan of Sarasota, Florida and Wayne Gurin of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.

A Memorial Service for Helen Hiller will be held at the Davis Funeral Home, 1 Lock St., Nashua, NH 03064 at 11:00 a.m. on June 21st with Deacon John Martin, Chaplain at the Community Hospice House, officiating. A private burial will be held at a later date at the Oak Grove Cemetery in Fall River, Massachusetts.

Friends are respectfully invited to attend. An online guest-book is available at www.davisfuneralhomenh.com. (603) 883-3401. “ONE MEMORY LIGHTS ANOTHER.”