Helen I. Aitken, 81, of Rock Island, Illinois, passed away peacefully Wednesday, January 3, 2018 at home. A private burial will be held at Rock Island National Cemetery, Arsenal Island. A Celebration of Life​ is​ planned for a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in care of the American Cancer Society. Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home and Crematory, Rock Island, is assisting the family.

Helen was born in Davenport, Iowa on June 29, 1936, daughter of Warren E. Mullens and Myrtle F. Briggs Mullens.  She married James Aitken on February 4, 1967 in Rock Island. Helen retired from Davenport Bank & Trust in 1995.

Helen was a member of Edgewood Baptist Church, Rock Island. She had a passion for painting, drawing, and poetry, but her true joy was her family and being surrounded by grandchildren.

Those left to cherish her memory include her children (and spouses), Russell (Evah) McClay, Milan, Victoria Jeffers, Rock Island, and Bruce McClay, Rock Island, five granddaughters, twenty-five great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.  She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, three sisters (Frances Mullens, Anna Solomon, and Janet Hawthorne), three brothers (Donald Mullens, Everett Mullens, and Virgil Mullens), a daughter-in-law (Florenza Conicella McClay), and grandson (Michael McClay).