Marie-Hélène Patricia Rainville was born to Rosemary Power and Bernard Célestin Rainville in Sept-Îles, Québec; a sister to Michel Rainville. The family moved back to Montreal in 1963, where Helen excelled academically at St. Malachy’s Elementary School and later at Villa Maria High School, receiving the Science Prize and the Governor General’s Medal at graduation. 

She started group piano lessons at age 10, with just a cardboard keyboard to practice on! But her aptitude and commitment convinced her parents to purchase a piano at considerable sacrifice.

As a young teen she joined the adult choir at St. Malachy’s Church and learned to sing and play the organ from the organist, Mildred Faust. She took over when her teacher retired in 1985 and remained there as organist, cantor and choir director for 22 years. 

Following her dream of becoming a nurse, she enrolled in Health Science at Marianopolis CEGEP. But she was painfully shy, and her success in high school theatre and in music led her to try a music major, and then go on to obtain a B. Mus. at McGill (piano with Betty Dawson, and voice with Margaret Kalil). She did Gilbert and Sullivan with McGill’s Savoy Society and occasional gigs with the MSO. Together with close friends Kim Andrews and Wendy Hamel, the “Sweet Vibrations” trio sang Christmas music at the Chateau Champlain. 

Described by her friends as glamorous, Helen made her own clothes and became a fashion model for the Audrey Morris Agency. This was also the period when she developed a passion for ice dancing, to which her brother Michel had introduced her. After graduation, she worked for many years at Kane & Fetterly Funeral Home, as administrator, arranging, and of course providing music for funerals.

It was in 1989 that Helen joined the Donovan Chorale (which renamed itself Anima Musica) and became the choir’s President. In the choir she met Henry Olders. When they married in 1994, she joined his ready-made family: two young daughters, Becky and Lisa, at home; two grown children, Jennifer and Michael; a two-year-old grandson, Andrew; a dog and a cat! Helen described those years as “intense”!

There were additional challenges: Helen’s father passed away suddenly in 1995 and her mother, in poor health and in and out of the hospital, died only 13 months later. Helen, as her mother Rosemary’s caregiver, “retired” from Kane & Fetterly and became a stay-at-home mother to Becky and Lisa. She started volunteering at Becky’s high school, Trafalgar, and for Westmount’s Community Events Advisory Committee.

Although it was challenging for the child of a small family, Helen grew to embrace her role as matriarch of the ever larger Montreal Olders clan and welcomed the entire family to celebrate birthdays, holidays, and especially the time of year she loved best: Christmas. Advent Open Houses were legendary, with up to 100 guests, freely flowing mulled wine, and hot hors d’oeuvres prepared and served by the girls and their friends. Michel welcomed guests and helped with coats, while Helen, at the piano, kept the carols going.

Helen and Henry, seeking more challenge, joined the Orpheus Singers. She was the choir music librarian, and made scarves that the ladies wore in concerts.

In 2000, when the City of Westmount was forcibly merged with Montreal, Helen joined the demerger movement, and contributed to the massive effort to get her beloved city back. The “Demergettes” continue to get together monthly for lunch! The merger fiasco stoked both Henry and Helen’s interest in municipal politics, and both joined the board of the Westmount Municipal Association, Helen becoming Treasurer in 2007. She was proud of her role as co-organizer of the organization’s 100th birthday celebrations in 2008!

When the girls moved out, Helen took up quilting and was welcomed by the Westmount Quilters Guild. Expanding her musical horizons, she started folk harp lessons in 2004 and joined Harpissimo that year. 

Helen resigned her position at St. Malachy’s Church in 2007, and began a career as replacement organist/harpist/soloist for services, weddings, and funerals at various churches all over the island of Montreal. In early 2010 she was asked to fill in on a regular basis at St. Columba’s Anglican Church in NDG, as the incumbent Robert Frederick Jones, a well-known musician, composer, and teacher, was ill. Robert unfortunately was not well enough to return and sadly passed away in 2012. Thus, St. Columba’s became Helen’s new “parish” and she developed close friendships with Reverend Gordon Guy and his wife Myrna, the choir, and many members of the congregation. Henry sang with her for special occasions. When St. Columba’s closed in 2012, Helen mourned the loss of this vibrant community. She continued volunteering every other week for Catholic services at Manoir Westmount and Place Kensington residences for seniors, 

Life was good, although hectic, when she was diagnosed with endometrial cancer in 2012. Although surgery and brachytherapy were curative, both Helen and Henry were shaken, very conscious of the fragility of existence. Cross-country skiing at Oka was both healthy and peaceful. They went back to ballroom dancing classes at Victoria Hall, and Helen was thrilled to be also doing tap-dance with the dance teacher, Marie-Claude Prégent. In good weather, they went for day-long rides on a new tandem bicycle.

When five years had gone by without recurrence of the endometrial cancer, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. That relief was short-lived, however, for in early 2017 a colon cancer was diagnosed. Surgery, and later, several rounds of chemotherapy and experimental immunotherapy failed to arrest the illness. But through it all, Helen went to activities, fitness classes, and comedy shows at the Hope & Cope Wellness Centre, and participated enthusiastically in their Voices of Hope Choir. 

In late 2018, the family started the process of coming to terms with her dying. With the help of the MUHC Supportive Care Team, Helen’s pain was kept under good control, and, buoyed up by the support, prayers, and help of friends and family, she was able to finish a couple of long-dormant quilting projects, organize a family celebration of her and Henry’s twenty-fifth wedding anniversary in June 2019, and voyage by train to her sister-in-law’s 75th birthday party in Oakville, Ontario so she could say goodbye to her dear friend Kim and to Henry’s extended family. Although she was rapidly losing weight and strength, with the support of the family and the CLSC team, her wish to die peacefully, at home with Henry, was honoured.

Above all, Helen was a woman of faith. From her childhood days singing in a church choir, to her volunteer activities as a young adult with Montreal Pro-Life, followed by a lifetime as a liturgical musician, Helen was dedicated to becoming the kind of person that she believed God wanted her to be, and that for many, she already was. Her friend Kim emphasized “Her devotion to family and friends, her openness to learning new things, her acceptance of all kinds of people, her determination to master a variety of skills (languages, instruments, dance, domestic “arts”…), her sensitivity, practicality and modesty, her generous and accommodating nature, her intellect and her witty sense of humour, her ability to adapt to changes, her deep faith, and her acceptance of her final days with grace. Helen was, truly, a most extraordinary woman; we are all most blessed to have had her in our lives for the time we did.”