Elizabeth “Liz” Elyse Yockey Ilku graced the world with her talent, love, disciplined determination, inner and outer beauty, and kind fellowship from March 2, 1928, until August 21, 2023. She passed away from natural causes, peacefully at her home, with her children David and Carol at her side.
Born in Webster City, Iowa, her third-grade teacher set the course for her destined life, telling her, “Elizabeth, there’s a special little harp that was donated to our school, and you’re going to play it!” Liz occupied the position of Principal Harp for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) for thirty years. Other orchestral experiences include the New Orleans Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Robinhood Dell series. Upon retirement, she played harp with both the Oklahoma Philharmonic and the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.
Liz graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where she studied with Carlos Salzedo. (She also gained a husband, Julius Ilku, who was a bass-fiddle student at Curtis.) While a student at Curtis, she joined a harp quintet known as “The Angelaires” and toured extensively under Columbia Artists Management, appearing on the national TV shows of Ed Sullivan, Paul Whiteman, and others.
In the 1960s, while playing with the DSO, she spent many hours between 12 a.m. and 3 a.m. recording for Motown Records for such artists as The Supremes, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, The Temptations, and Jimmy Ruffin. Liz was the harpist on all DSO recordings from 1958 to 1988. And, her generous and devoted spirit led her to teaching harp at the University of Michigan, Oakland University, and Wayne State University, where several students became life-long friends and professional colleagues.
In 1957, she and Julius lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Liz played with the Symphony. They worked at a CBC radio station playing recitals and chamber music, then a producer asked if Liz could play jazz. She and Julius studied and listened, and before long got swinging with their new-found Swing Easy Quartet. Forty years later, Liz produced her debut jazz CD “Swing Easy” while living in Hot Springs, Arkansas (close to where her brother Charles Robert Yockey and family lived).
In her words, Liz had the deepest gratitude for “my life, my music, my family and children, my dogs, teachers, doctors, and friends.”
All who knew her have gratitude for her smile and laugh (skilled at joke-telling), her excellence in effort in all she endeavored, her kind-hearted nature and generosity, and her outstanding story-telling ability, able to hold an audience on the edge of their seats. She loved beyond measure, and loved cooking for family and friends. Her exquisite harp playing and great musicianship are among her gifts, and our treasures.
Elizabeth Ilku is pre-deceased by father Rex Earl Yockey, mother Alice Jean Watkins Yockey, brother Charles Robert Yockey, and husband Julius Ilku. She is survived by her children David Ilku and Carol Ilku, and her extended Yockey, Ilku, and Burns family.
For remembrances in Liz’s honor, please consider a charity close to heart, and an animal rescue charity.
—Carol Ilku and David Ilku
