Trudy Lynn Hammel Bilodeau
With sadness, we announce the sudden passing of Trudy Lynn Hammel Bilodeau. Born in St. Francis Hospital in Santa Barbara, to parents Melvin C. Hammel and Rita Doreen (Hay) Hammel, Trudy was the youngest of four children. Her father’s family reached back three generations to the local Chumash, and her mother’s to Canada and Scotland. She attended Franklin and Cleveland Schools, Santa Barbara Junior High, and Santa Barbara High, graduating in 1973. She worked at Bob’s Glass shop, rising quickly to become the manager there. In 1975, she married Donnie Mueller, and their daughter Elizabeth was born at Cottage Hospital in 1981.
Her parents had moved to Helendale, California, and she followed in 1990, raising Elizabeth in the community of Silver Lakes. Trudy was a welcome member there, as she was always ready to help neighbors and even those she didn’t know. Christmas Eves would find her taking boxes of pizza, blankets, or toiletries to tents of the homeless in Victorville. She volunteered at the Salvation Army, making lunches for those in need. When that program closed down during the pandemic, she began cooking meals through the Helendale Community Church, meals open to anyone needing sustenance and kindness. When hearing of a community member who was ill, grieving, or alone, Trudy would often show up on the doorstep with food and a visit.
In August of 2007, in the midst of a family reunion at Lake Tahoe, Trudy married her long-time friend and companion, John Bilodeau, and through him, gained a larger extended family. Together they welcomed the birth of Elizabeth’s daughter Samantha in 2013, and from then on, there were many trips back and forth to Arizona to spend time with their girls.
Trudy was preceded in death by her parents, by her sister Sally, and by her first husband, Donnie Mueller. She is survived by her husband, John Bilodeau of Helendale; her daughter and granddaughter, Elizabeth and Sammy Ceballes of Chandler, Arizona; her sister, Susanne Hammel-Sawyer (Benjamin) of Goleta; her brother, Tom Hammel (Judy) of Phoenix, Oregon; her aunt, Dorothy Sierra of Santa Ynez; her seven nephews and nieces; by cousins in the US and in Canada; and by many great and great-great nieces and nephews. May we all carry on some of her generous spirit.
A service was held for Trudy at the Helendale Community Church. Please consider making a donation in her name to a homeless shelter or to an animal shelter of your choice, causes in which she believed.
