In January of 1980 J. P. McCarthy broadcast this eulogy on WJR Radio in Detroit:

I lost a close friend yesterday and WJR lost a valued member of its family. Helen Rigelhof succumbed after a valiant, courageous fight with cancer yesterday morning.

Helen had spent 21 years here working with Karl Haas, Hal Youngblood, and me, and she was a tireless worker - bright, creative, and loyal to a fault. She also did everything for me but wipe my nose. It is a great personal loss, and great loss to the station, and she died far too young. Helen was the associate producer on the "Focus" program, and she booked the show and handled the guests - always with just magnificent aplomb.

She is at the Windsor Chapel on Tecumseh Road East in Windsor and the funeral will be Friday at 9:30 in the morning from the Windsor Chapel. Our deepeest sympathy, of course, to her brothers and sisters and to her father and mother. I know you're listening somewhere, so I won't tell your age, Helen. We miss you.