Helen Stepanek Obituary

Helen Stepanek

Helen Stepanek, the passionate, cello-playing devotee of West Suburban Orchestra who brought the love of music, writing, and the arts to her two children and grandchildren, died on Saturday in Hinsdale. She was 90.

Helen was a devoted mother who, with her husband Frank, were lifelong residents and community supporters in Chicago's southwest suburbs and members of the Unitarian Church of Hinsdale, where Helen volunteered in the 1980s and 90s as a cellist and served on the Women's Alliance, a community volunteering initiative affiliated with the Church that supports the arts and community discussion around topics of global interest. In the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, she led regular play-reading groups in her home and hosted a chamber music group comprised of local musicians and her colleagues in the orchestra, and was active in her Church. Besides being a cellist, Helen also was a talented writer and manager, working part-time in the 1970s and 1980s - first at the local newspaper in LaGrange Park, and then later, as an administrator in Social Services at Hinsdale Sanitarium (now King Bruwaert House, an assisted living center).

She leaves to her children and grandchildren, as a legacy, the inspiration of music, community participation and writing, and she will be deeply missed. She is survived by her daughter, Marcia, a journalist, amateur violinist, and a media professor at Columbia University in New York; her son, Steve, a business entrepreneur and cello-playing advertising/marketing executive in Grosse Pointe, Mich., his wife, Jeanette, a retired private school teacher, and their two daughters, Kristin and Alexis, who both learned to play the violin, inspired by their grandmother and her love of music and life.

Visitation Sunday, March 13, from 1:00pm until time of service, 4:00pm at Hallowell & James Funeral Home, 1025 W. 55th St., Countryside. Interment private.

Memorial donations to West Suburban Symphony Orchestra, P.O. Box 565, Hinsdale, IL 60522.

Funeral Info: 708-352-6500 or hjfunerals.com.