TACOM ILSC dedicates conference room to late-employee

Photo By Gregory Pici | Brian Butler, deputy to the TACOM Life Cycle Management Command commander and former executive director for the Integrated Logistics Support Center, places a plaque on the wall to mark the newly renamed Helen Cannon Conference Room in Building 270 on the Detroit Arsenal. The room was dedicated to Cannon's memory Dec. 2, 2016, more than a year after the former director of Logistics Integration died suddenly.  

WARREN, MI, UNITED STATES

12.02.2016

Story by Cathy Segal 

U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command

DETROIT ARSENAL – Helen Cannon was known throughout TACOM Life Cycle Management Command's Integrated Logistics Support Center for her loyalty, integrity, leadership and selfless commitment to getting the job done. She died suddenly in September 2015 at age 64, but her memory lives on with a conference room here dedicated in her honor Dec. 2, 2016.

Previously known as Conference Room 7106, the Helen Cannon Conference Room in the ILSC is named for the center's former director of Logistics Integration. Cannon's office was nearby, and she conducted and attended many meetings in the room that now bears her name.

"Believe it or not, there's guidance for (naming a room after a person)," said Jeff Bohun, director of Logistics Support Operations, of the process than began a year ago. "This was not an easy task. It got to a point where I said, 'One night when no one else is here we're just going to nail the plaque up there and be done with it.' Of course, we knew Helen probably wouldn't have appreciated that because she was a stickler for guidance," he continued, laughing, before explaining that he even had to justify the charge for the plaque on his government credit card.

After 10 months of research and paperwork, the request to officially rename the room was approved by Installation Management Command, Central Region, on Oct. 31. A plaque with Cannon's name and official photo marks the room, and the ILSC conference room scheduler was updated to reflect the name change.

Brian Butler, deputy to the TACOM LCMC commander and former ILSC executive director, described how she made him pay attention to supply issues before ending his comments as his voice cracked with emotion. "Helen was an incredible lady, a special lady," he said as he hung the new plaque.

Cannon's brother, John, attended the dedication and said, "I didn't expect this. It's an honor, a deep honor, to have my sister remembered in this way. I know she spent many, many years here and cared a lot about this place. I think she would be speechless. She would be so taken aback and so profoundly honored that they would remember her in this way."

Cannon began her 32-year career at TACOM in 1983 as an inventory management specialist intern on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle system. She rose through the ranks as a systems analyst in the Logistics Systems Office and Army Working Capital Fund Budget Office; a team leader for medium tactical vehicles; director for the Mine Resistant Vehicle Product Support Integration Directorate; and associate director for Readiness & Sustainment under Combat Support & Combat Service Support, and ILSC's Logistics Integration Directorate. In 2013, she assumed her highest-ranking position on the ILSC Board of Directors as director of Logistics Integration.

Off duty, Cannon was an opera singer who frequently attended performances at the Detroit Opera House. In addition to spending time with and caring for family, friends and her dogs, she enjoyed baking and was an avid reader.

The conference room plaque honors her memory and love of music with lyrics from an Irving Berlin song known by the same title: "The song is ended, but the melody lingers on."

• Date Taken: 12.02.2016
• Date Posted: 12.21.2016 09:59
• Story ID: 218379
• Location: WARREN, MI, US