Helen M. Colburn
Helen M. Colburn was born around 1898 in Kansas to Ira Colburn and Lottie Martin. Her father earned a living as a clerk. The family lived in Topeka, Kansas, until the early 1900s, when they moved to Emporia, Kansas. She earned a Bachelor’s degree from the Kansas State Agricultural College, and she also attended the Juilliard School and the American Conservatory.
By 1920, she was working as a music teacher in Manhattan, Kansas. She married Boyd Ringo on July 5, 1923, and their son Boyd was born around 1928. They lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and they both worked as music professors at the University of Tulsa. During World War II, one writer recalled, she “played concerts to help obtain funds to equip service hospitals, hospital trains and ships.”
She and her husband “played as members of a duo-piano team in many sections of the United States.” She also “introduced many new ideas to musical circles, among which was the program of student concerts.” In 1952, she published the Helen Ringo Manual for Teachers and Pianists. She died “unexpectedly” in Chicago, Illinois, in May 1952, possibly from a heart attack.
Image: Helen M. Colburn (U.S. School Yearbooks, 1900-2016, available from Ancestry.com)
DATABASE CONTENT
| (3727) | Colburn, Helen M. ~ Ringo, Helen M. | 1898 | 1952-05 |
- Conflict Side: Union
- Role: Civilian
- Rank in:
- Rank out:
- Rank highest:
- Gender: Female
- Race: White
Documents - Records: 1
- (10528) [recipient] ~ Sarah Fry to Helen M. Colburn, 9 August 1894
People - Records: 4
- (3727) Colburn, Helen M. is the [child of] (3721) Colburn, Ira Delos
Places - Records: 2
SOURCES
1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, and 1950 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; U.S. School Yearbooks, 1900-2016, available from Ancestry.com; The Manhattan (KS) Republic, 5 July 1923; Tulsa (OK) World, 12 March 1952 and 13 May 1952; Muskogee (OK) Times-Democrat, 13 May 1952
