Gerry Helke
d. 2004
Life member of Local 180, passed away on May 24, 2004, after a lengthy and courageous battle with cancer. Gerry was a very accomplished and versatile musician who was involved in everything from classical to jazz.
His musical career started in Pembroke, Ontario, in the mid-1940s. He was an honours graduate of the Oscar Peterson School of Music, and he also studied arranging at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.
He joined the Central Band of the Canadian Armed Forces in the early ’50s and was its senior staff arranger. Gerry was the writer and conductor on numerous CBC radio and television shows which featured such artists as Mel Tormé, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry and many others. He was the orchestra leader at the Old Mill Restaurant in Toronto and was also a sideman in other groups such as the Ellis McLintock orchestra, the Peter Appleyard Quartet, and the Champ Champagne Orchestra, the Ron Milne Orchestra and the Peter Turner group in Ottawa.
Shortly before his illness disabled him, he was still giving his grandchildren their weekly music and arranging lessons. His contribution to the Ottawa-Gatineau music scene was tremendous and he will be greatly missed by his many friends in Ottawa and Toronto.
Source: The News Harp, September 2004