1999 Distinguished Nebraskans Award Recipient The Honorable Helen Boosalis Helen Boosalis became the United States’ first woman mayor of a city with more than 100,000 residents when she was elected to the first of her two terms as Lincoln’s mayor in 1975.  In 1981, she became the first woman President of the Conference of Mayors. After her second mayoral term, Boosalis led the State’s Department on Aging before running for governor in 1986 against Kay Orr in the first U.S. gubernatorial election in which both major party candidates were women. Before becoming mayor of Lincoln, she served 16 years on the city council. Back to list

© 2008 The Nebraska Society of Washington, D.C., Inc. All rights reserved.                           Post Office Box 65243, Washington, D.C. 20035-5243