HELLMANN, Janette Main

Dotsy passed away peacefully at her home in Birnam Wood on Sunday, July 15, 2001 at the age of 97. She was a pillar of the Santa Barbara music and arts communities. For the past forty years, she lent her invaluable support to the Music Academy of the West, serving as its President from 1974 to 1978. Dotsy loved opera and personally supported a number of music students of the Academy who now perform in opera companies throughout the United States and Europe. One of her greatest pleasures was attending Master Classes at the Academy, especially those conducted by her great friend, Marilyn Horne.

Born in Evanston, Illinois in 1904, Dotsy attended Rosemary Hall School for Girls. Upon graduation, she spent several years in Europe taking voice lessons eventually returning to this country to marry and raise a family.

Dotsy always had a flair for the original. During World War II, while living in Washington DC she served with the OSS. In 1953, she persuaded Army brass to permit her to follow a pint of donor blood from Illinois to a MASH unit on the front lines in Korea. It proved to be a successful public relations effort. In the process, she enjoyed surprising her husband who was then in Korea as a newspaper correspondent.

In 1962, Dotsy moved to Perugia, Italy for a year to learn Italian. Soon after returning to Southern California, she met and became a close friend of Lotte Lehmann, a founder of the Music Academy of the West. In 1970 Dotsy and her husband, Richard Hellmann, moved to Santa Barbara where she pursued her long involvement with the Music Academy. Dotsy is survived by a daughter, Polly Kraft Cutler, of Washington DC., a son, John Winton of Seattle, four grandchildren, and eight great grandchildren. She has been a tireless contributor to numerous causes all her life.