Helen Bingham liked bands so much she had her own using her entire family.
Bingham died at her Lakewood retirement home March 23, just 10 days after her 95th birthday.
In 1953, the family — Bingham, her husband and three kids — tried out for a spot on a then-popular television show, Ted Mack’s “Original Amateur Hour.”
They lost in the second round, beaten out by a “one-legged Army veteran tap dancer,” family members said.
Helen Bingham played organ, piano and trumpet, and all her kids played some instrument.
Helen Bingham’s husband, Don Bingham, “begrudgingly” went along with her band, playing the guitar and driving the family to New York City for the Mack tryouts, said her son Dale Bingham of San Diego.
The Mercury station wagon was loaded with parents, three children, luggage and two dogs. On top was a special rack that Don Bingham built to carry the instruments.
“Mother was a force to be reckoned with,” Dale Bingham said. “She was strong-willed, in a very polite way.”
Outgoing and energetic, Helen Bingham loved playing music for people and would do so at a moment’s notice, including times when she and her husband made trips in their RV. She always had her keyboard with her.
The band also played for benevolent organizations, marched in parades and played at the Organ Grinder, a former pizza restaurant in west Denver.
Frank Perko, who was 12 at the time, remembers playing organ duets with her at the Paramount Theatre.
“She was always full of life, despite her challenging life,” said Perko, of Brighton.
“She loved people,” said her granddaughter Angela Bingham of Salem, Ore.
Helen Bingham believed “it’s always better to be overdressed than underdressed,” Angela Bingham said.
“She always had a big hairdo, big earrings and manicured nails” (sometimes colored to fit a holiday). “She was colorful and a character,” Angela Bingham said.
Family members said she made friends instantly, sometimes reciting the life story of a stranger she had just met. “She loved performing and being the center of attention,” but she also “collected people and loved bringing them together,” Angela Bingham said.
Helen Louise DeLong was born in Denver on March 13, 1916, and graduated from East High School. She earned a degree at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley and taught in a two-room school in Nunn.
Always up for adventure, there were a few things she failed. She missed out on a college scholarship because she couldn’t stand to put her head underwater and therefore flunked the required swimming test.
On March 13, 1940, she married Donald C. Bingham, an engineer with the Bureau of Reclamation who worked on the Big Thompson Water Project when they lived in Loveland.
The family moved to Lakewood in 1957. Don Bingham died in 1984.
In addition to her son Dale, she is survived by another son, Don Bingham of Florida, and two grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Mary Bingham, in 1990, and a grandson, Jeff Bingham, in 2001.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
