Helen Wilkes

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Helen Wilkes (April 4, 1927 – October 7, 2015) was an American businesswoman, nurse and politician. Wilkes, who served as a city commissioner of West Palm Beach, Florida, from 1976 to 1988, became the city's first female Mayor in 1978.[1][2]

Wilkes was born Helen Barbour in Fort Valley, Georgia.[1] She had five siblings.[1]

Wilkes, a young nurse, relocated to West Palm Beach, Florida, in 1952 to accept a position as a registered nurse at the city's St. Mary's Hospital.[2] She earned just $175 a month at St. Mary's.[2] However, by taking no days off, she saved her enough of her income to purchase $3,500 in a house in nearby Lake Park, Florida, which she converted into a nursing home with a capacity for nine residents.[2] Wilkes later recalled in an interview, "For seven years, I worked without a day off. I had a dream and I wanted to fulfill it."[2] She expanded the facility into the Helen Wilkes Nursing Home, an 85-bed nursing home over the next few decades.[1][2] Wilkes sold her nursing home in the late 1980s for $3.36 million.[2]

Wilkes next acquired the George Washington Hotel, a troubled, declining flophouse hotel located on Flagler Drive in downtown West Palm Beach during the 1970s.[2][3] She renovated the hotel, which was in disrepair at the time, and reopened it under a new name, the Helen Wilkes Resident Hotel.[1][2] She owned and operated the residential retirement hotel for more than 30 years, until the building was purchased by the city government of West Palm Beach and demolished in 2005.[1]

She was best known for her political career in city government. She first joined the in 1976, ultimately serving on the commission from 1976 to 1987.[2] She simultaneously elected West Palm Beach's first female Mayor by the City Commission on March 30, 1978.[2][4]

In a 1987 interview, Wilkes considered her greatest political achievements to be the creation of West Palm Beach's first crime watch patrol.[2] Wilkes also worked with , who was elected West Palm Beach's first African-American Mayor by the City Commission on March 25, 1982,[5] to improve relations between the city's black and white communities.[2] Wilkes retired from the City Commission on Thursday, March 24, 1988.[3]

Helen Wilkes died on October 7, 2015, at the age of 88. She was survived by her husband, Hector Rodriguez.[1]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Doris, Tony (2015-10-09). "Helen Wilkes, 88, West Palm's first female mayor". Palm Beach Post. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Gottesman, Marissa (2015-10-09). "Helen Wilkes, 88, first female mayor of West Palm Beach". Sun Sentinel. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  3. ^ a b Thiem, Rebecca (1987-03-27). "Era Ends With Helen Wilkes` Departure West Palm`s Former City Commissioner Downplays Her Shrewdness And Clout". Sun Sentinel. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  4. ^ Robinson, Melinda (1978-03-31). "West Palm Beach has new woman mayor". Boca Raton News. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  5. ^ Skinner, Sarah E. (2014-05-22). "This week in history: Eva Mack becomes West Palm Beach's first black mayor". Palm Beach Post. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
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