Helen TeAta Gale Cole was born half Chickasaw and half Choctaw in Tishomingo, Oklahoma in 1922.

Helen served for more than nine years in the Oklahoma State Senate and six years in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and was the mayor of Moore, Oklahoma.

She was well known for her fight against drug and alcohol addictions as well as her efforts as a member of the State Ethics Commission to raise the bar of behavior for state officials.

Helen began her political career by running for office in 1976, which was the only time she was ever defeated.

In 1978, she ran again, won and began an 18-year career of public service.

One year after retiring from the Senate, Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating appointed her to co-chair a statewide task force on issues related to drug and alcohol addictions. Later that same year, she was also appointed to the State Ethics Commission by Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Yvonne Kauger.

Her grandfather, Thomas Benjamin Thompson, was the last elected Treasurer of the Chickasaw Nation before statehood. She is also the niece of TeAta, famed Chickasaw storyteller.