Germaine Grillet Hellinger, 94, singer

Germaine Grillet Hellinger of High Valley Road, a native of Switzerland who as an adventuresome 20-year-old came to the United States to study opera, died Saturday, July 22, at Filosa Convalescent Center in Danbury. She was 94 years old and had lived in Ridgefield off and on since 1956.
"I knew no one in America," she said of her arrival from France in 1926, "and I didn't think I'd stay here, but even then I didn't feel a stranger." Indeed, late in life, after the death of her husband, she returned to France, only to come back to this country and to Ridgefield. "I thought I could return to France," she said. "My sister was there, but I love Ridgefield and found I had become more American than French."
Mrs. Hellinger was born Feb. 11, 1906 in Switzerland, but grew up in Lyons, France, and came here to further her studies in concert and operatic music begun in Geneva. She attended the Juilliard School of Music and in her early years performed roles in Aida, Tosca and other operas in the United States, Mexico, and her native France.
While living at the Three Arts Club in New York, she met and eventually married a Hungarian jeweler and horologist, Conrad Hellinger, who had studied piano with a student of Franz Liszt. Mr. Hellinger had designed and built Movado watches.
While living in New York, the Hellingers bought a weekend and summer place on Ned's Mountain Road in 1956. "They had a lot of musical friends," recalled Ridgeburian Paul Hampden, "and they used to give some wonderful parties."
After Mr. Hellinger died in 1968, Mrs. Hellinger moved to France, but returned a few years later, buying a weekend retreat on Silver Spring Road. She eventually met artist William Hopper in New York City and together they bought a house on High Valley Road, where the two lived for many years. Mr. Hopper died last August.
Well into her 80s, Mrs. Hellinger remained active in music and arts circles in New York. In 1990, she was chairman of the April in Paris Ball at the Waldorf Astoria and was on the board of La Maison Francaise at New York University.
She had no known survivors.
A graveside gathering and burial will take place at Ridgebury Cemetery at a time to be announced.
The Kane Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.