Helen Arline Dahlstrom (née Underbakke) was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, to Norwegian-Canadian parents. She had two children with Alton Dahlstrom, Carol Boldt and Dr. David Dahlstrom. She was a pianist, organist, accompanist, music teacher, choir conductor, examiner and adjudicator. She received her teacher's diploma in piano (ACTM) from the Toronto Conservatory of Music in 1930, her Solo performer's diploma (RMT) in 1932 from the Toronto Conservatory of Music, and her Licentiate of Music diploma (LMUS) from the University of Saskatchewan in 1934. Her primary music education with Cyril Hampshire at the Regina Conservatory of Music from 1929 to 1935 was followed by a summer internship in 1935 with Stephen Balogh at the Cornish School in Seattle. In 1944 she moved to Winnipeg and took private lessons with Leonard Heaton until 1946 and 1947 to 1949 with recitalist and teacher Boris Roubakine in Calgary. She started her career as a pianist at 16 when she played the Schumann Concerto with the Regina Symphony Orchestra. In 1940, she was the accompanist for John Goss on a Western Canada tour and continued accompanying other instrumentalists in recitals, including Elfreda Gleam and Reginald Kell. In Regina, she was frequently heard on the radio, from 1940 to 1943 on CJRM, and from 1945 to 1947, on CBC Radio, in Winnipeg. In 1950, she moved to Rossland, British Columbia, serving as organist-choirmaster for St. Andrews United Church. In 1964, she became conductor of the A Capella Singers of the Rossland Trail branch. She led this choir in various southeast British Columbia centres for almost ten years.
Dahlstrom has served on numerous boards to further the arts provincially, nationally, and internationally. She was president of the British Columbia Registered Music Teachers Association (BCRMTA) from 1970 to 1972 and a British Columbia Arts Board member. In addition, Dahlstrom served as chair of the Music Committee, as chair of the Fine Arts Division of the Academic Council, as a committee member of the Arts and Education Council, and as a board member of the Touring Council. Nationally, she was a member of the Regional Committee for the Explorations program of the Canada Council between 1979 and 1980, board member of Canada Council, president of the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers Association (CFMTA) from 1971 to 1975, national chair of Canada Music Week (CMW) from 1969 until the mid-1990s, and member of the board of Governors of the Canadian Conference of the Arts from 1979 to 1983. Internationally, she was a member of the European Piano Teachers Association (EPTA) and board member of the International Society of Music Educators (ISME) for Canada. Since 1965, she has adjudicated several festivals, examinations and competitions across North America. These places include the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto from 1984 to1989; the Western Board of Music for the Universities of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba; Mount Royal College in Calgary; the international competition at Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1986; and the Young Keyboard Artists Association competition at Los Angeles, California in 1989. In 1989, she received the Home of Champions Award to recognize her dedication, achievement and contribution to the Arts in the Home of Champions in Trail, British Columbia. She is listed in the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada (1992) and Women of Notes: 1,000 women composers born before 1900 (1978). She compiled and edited the Canada Music Week Silver Anniversary Collection (1985) and the Canadian Composers: mini-biographies (1989), which is now part of the music syllabuses of the Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto and the Western Board of Music.