Helen TeAta Gale Cole (July 13, 1922 – April 7, 2004) was an American politician who served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1979 to 1984, when she was first elected to the Oklahoma Senate. Cole returned to the state senate in 1991 and was succeeded by Kathleen Wilcoxson in 1997. Her son,

Tom Cole Thomas Jeffery Cole (born April 28, 1949) is the U.S. representative for , serving since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party and serves as Deputy Minority Whip. The chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) fr ...

, is the longest-serving Native American in the history of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

Early life and education

Helen TeAta Gale was born in

Tishomingo, Oklahoma Tishomingo is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Johnston County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 3,034 at the 2010 census, a decline of 4.1 percent from the figure of 3,162 in 2000. It was the first capital of the Chick ...

, on July 13, 1922, to William Oakley Gale and Avis Minnette Fifield (Thompson). She was raised in a single-parent household and graduated from Ardmore High School in 1939.

Career

Cole was active in several local civic and political organizations, and contributed to the successful gubernatorial campaigns of

Henry Bellmon Henry Louis Bellmon (September 3, 1921 – September 29, 2009) was an American Republican politician from the U.S. State of Oklahoma. A member of the Oklahoma Legislature, he went on to become both the 18th and 23rd governor of Oklahoma, mai ...

and

Dewey Bartlett Dewey Follett Bartlett Sr. (March 28, 1919 – March 1, 1979) was an American politician who served as the 19th governor of Oklahoma from 1967 to 1971, following his fellow Republican, Henry Bellmon. In 1966, he became the first Roman Cat ...

. Cole was named a delegate to the

1968 Republican National Convention The 1968 Republican National Convention was held at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Dade County, Florida, from August 5 to August 8, 1968, to select the party's nominee in the general election. It nominated former Vice Preside ...

, and Bartlett appointed her to the Oklahoma Personnel Board. Cole then ran for a seat on the Oklahoma House of Representatives. From 1979 to 1984, she represented district 54. Cole contested the 45th district Oklahoma Senate seat in 1984, and won one term. Cole retired, only to return to her political career as mayor of

Moore, Oklahoma Moore is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. The population was 62,793 at the 2020 census, making Moore the seventh-largest city in the state of Oklahoma. Located between Okla ...

, in 1990. The next year, she succeeded her son

as state senator from the 45th district. Cole was named a National Convention delegate for a second time for the

1992 Republican National Convention The 1992 Republican National Convention was held in the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, from August 17 to August 20, 1992. The convention nominated President George H. W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle for reelection. It was Bush's fourth ...

. Cole stepped down from the state senate in 1997, and was succeeded by Kathleen Wilcoxson. Cole was then appointed a National Convention delegate for a third time for the

2000 Republican National Convention The 2000 Republican National Convention convened at the First Union Center (now the Wells Fargo Center) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 31 to August 3, 2000. The 2000 delegates assembled at the convention nominated Texas Governor Geor ...

. In retirement, she became a benefactor of the

University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma The University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (USAO) is a public liberal arts college in Chickasha, Oklahoma. It is the only public college in Oklahoma with a strictly liberal arts–focused curriculum and is a member of the Council of Public ...

Personal life

Cole was of

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands. Their traditional territory was in the Southeastern United States of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee as well in southwestern Kentucky. Their language is classif ...

and Choctaw descent. She was a member of the

Chickasaw Nation The Chickasaw Nation (Chickasaw: Chikashsha I̠yaakni) is a federally recognized Native American tribe, with its headquarters located in Ada, Oklahoma in the United States. They are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, original ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Helen 1922 births 2004 deaths 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century Native Americans 20th-century Native American politicians 20th-century Native American women 21st-century Native American women Chickasaw people of Choctaw descent 20th-century Members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives Chickasaw Nation state legislators in Oklahoma Native American women in politics Republican Party Oklahoma state senators People from Moore, Oklahoma People from Tishomingo, Oklahoma Women mayors of places in Oklahoma Women state legislators in Oklahoma Republican Party members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives