Helen Fitch Silha was born in Manhattan, Kansas, where she went to grade school. When her father, J.B. Fitch, became head of the dairy department at the University of Minnesota in 1935, she moved with the family to Minneapolis where she was graduated from John Marshall High School.

After graduation from the University of Minnesota with a B.S. degree in education, she taught school for a year in Tracy, Minnesota. She and Mr. Silha married in 1942, and she worked in the University Student Activities Bureau while he was in the Pacific in the Air Force.

In addition to managing the Silha household and rearing four children, Mrs. Silha has been active in Third Church, Christ, Scientist in Minneapolis, and chaired the Board of Directors of Minnesota Early Learning Design (MELD). Mrs. Silha has served on the board of Compas, a statewide arts organization, and on the boards of MacPhail Center for the Arts, and Friends of Opportunity Workshop.