D. Helen Reilly, 88 of Terre Haute passed away Monday December 4, 2023 at the Health Center at Glenburn in Linton, Indiana after a seven-year battle with dementia. She was born December 27, 1934 in Manchester, England to Alfred Samuel Yarwood and Adeline Smith Yarwood. She was married to William (Bill) Reilly from July of 1973 until his passing in December of 1993.

Survivors include a daughter Jane Suter (Michael) of Hershey, PA; her nephew Robert Bromley of Melbourne, Australia; niece Anne Topliff Noosa Heads, Australia; nephew Mathew Thursfield, Chengdu, China; nephew Andy Hadley of Terre Haute, IN; niece Sarah Aikman of Independence, KY; nephews Richard Thursfield and Charles Thursfield of Sutton Coldfield, UK, and grandchildren Gavin Suter and Beckett Suter of Hershey, PA.

She was preceded in death by her two older sisters Olive Bromley of Melbourne, Australia and her best friend Margaret (Peg) Hadley of Terre Haute, IN / Park Ridge, IL, and baby sister Patricia (Pat) Thursfield of Sutton Coldfield, England.

Helen's legal name is Doreen Helen, but she never used Doreen as she hated the name and would not answer to it. Helen was supposed to be legally named Helen Doreen, but her father misunderstood her mother's wishes and had her registered, incorrectly, upon her birth. Hence being legally referred to as Doreen Helen for her entire life – to the great consternation of her mother and herself.

Helen spent her early years sheltering in a dank, cold, bomb shelter in the backyard of her home in Sutton Coldfield, England. She was an eye witness to the nightly bombings of the British Midlands by the Germans, and watched the burning of Coventry with her parents and three sisters.

In the early fifties, Helen and her family moved to Melbourne, Australia for three years until her mother couldn't take the heat anymore and made her father move the family back to the more tolerable weather in England.

Helen moved to the United States in 1964 and made her home in downtown Chicago where she lived until 1982. In April of 1966, Helen was summoned to her older sister Peg's house in Park Ridge to assist in the care of Peg's newborn son, Andy. Peg was suffering from post-partum depression and found it difficult to care for her new son. From that day on Helen became Andy's second mother – a bond that would last for 57 years; with Andy taking care of Helen for the last seven years of her life. Her last words to him were, "Give me a kiss!" on the Friday before she passed.

Helen worked in the advertising business for some of the top agencies in Chicago. She was a "regular" at the Billy Goat Tavern and The House of Hunan, where she spent many evenings with her husband, Bill, and their close friends from the creative copy world. Names you would recognize like, Mike Royko, Siskel and Ebert, Rich Lindberg, and other lions of the news world from the Chicago Tribune, Sun Times to the Daily News. All writers and columnists that make the Windy City the one of Big Shoulders.

When she suffered a slight stroke in 2010, Helen took two aspirins, phoned a taxi to pick her up, and then waited for the driver to ferry her to the hospital. She was tough as nails, soft as a pillow, and had GRIT for DAYS!!! And she never let anyone cry alone, "My bladder is too close to my eyes" she would say.

Always loving and kind, Helen taught her two grandchildren how to hail a Taxi for the very first time, in downtown Chicago. She also introduced her daughter, Jane,

to real-deal Irish pubs and gave her tremendous love. She would say, "Don't listen to what people say! I know who you ARE!" Helen, who became pregnant out of wedlock, long ago gave up her daughter for adoption the day she was born. Yet she agreed to meet this daughter, decades later and forged an everlasting, loving relationship with her. Yes, that's who Helen was. Always faithful. Always kind. Ever the BEST one of us!

The family would like to thank the staff at Springhill Village where she was a resident from April of 2017 thru May of 2023, (until she got kicked out for escaping one to many times and causing controlled chaos on a daily basis), for their fantastic care and friendship.

Also, the family would like to extend their thanks to the Health Center at Glenburn for the care and love they showed Helen in her final months. The team at Glenburn were angels and the family cannot thank them enough along with the nurses at ViaQuest Hospice of Linton. Also, the family would like to thank Glenburn for the opportunity for Helen to star in their recent commercial with her nephew Andy that was filmed this past July.  Her legacy continues on the local TV screen along with the residuals, from her short acting career.

Helen requested no services. She would like for her friends and family to raise a glass of Scotch or their favorite alcoholic beverage of choice to celebrate her life on this New Year's Eve.  She will be cremated and she has advised her nephew, Andy to do whatever he wants with her ashes as she could care less about what happens to them as she is dead. She suggested a spot in his garden in Terre Haute, IN would suit her just fine, mixed into the soil with his cat Daisy.

After each Taxi ride Helen would take in Chicago, Helen would say to the driver, in her British accent "We're square" after giving the driver a tip and paying for the ride. The family would like to believe when Helen got up to the pearly gates of Heaven and said to God, "Are we square? "And God said to her, "Yeah, Helen. We're square." And off she went to reunite with her three sisters, Bill and the rest of her family and friends. A life well lived.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer's Association or Hospice of the Wabash Valley in her name. Online condolences may be made to www.debaunfuneralhomes.com.