Uncrowned Community Builders

Ms. Fox was born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, one of six children of Harvey C. and Johnnie Mae (Melton) Fox. She is a graduate of the Oklahoma State University Technical Branch, where she received an Associate of Applied Science degree in 1986. In 1989, she received an Associate of Applied Science in Business from Tulsa Junior College. Helen graduated from Bartlesville Wesleyan College with a Bachelor of Science in Management of Human Resources.

Mayor Fox has had a diverse work history beginning in 1981, when she worked first as a word processing secretary and then as purchase order typist II for Cities Service Oil & Gas Company. From 1991 to 1997, she worked as a central purchasing invoice clerk, domestic, at OXY USA followed by a position at Occidental Oil & Gas Corporation as an administrative clerk III for both domestic and international departments. She worked, most recently at the Muscogee Creek Nation Office of Child Care Specialist from 1988 to 2004.

Mayor Fox has served on numerous boards including the board and executive committee of the Eastern Oklahoma Development District; representative for Okmulgee County Commission on the Deep Fork Community Action Agency Board; first elected female president of Oklahoma Conference of Black Mayors, Inc. (2003-2006); first representative on the National Conference of Black Mayors, Inc. (2003-2006). She was elected affirmative action representative for District #2 in 2003 and the following year to a delegate for the 2004 National Democratic Convention.

Ms. Fox was elected mayor of Grayson, Oklahoma in 1992. She was the first female elected mayor in the 105 year historic of this historically black town. During her tenure as mayor, she has received numerous grants resulting in the building of the Grayson Community Center and a new fire station. In 1995, Grayson received the Wal Mart American Hometown Leadership Award, one of the top 250 nominees, nationwide, to receive this prestigious honor. Under her leadership, Grayson participated in the historical Okmulgee Festival of Lights Parade, for the first time and received first place in the Roughneck Youth category.

Mayor Fox was the first mayor of an historical Black town to be invited to a Presidential Inauguration by President William J. Clinton. As chairperson of the Grayson Development Authority, Mayor Fox led a number of diverse groups in receiving a grant for $781,000 to build a sewer lagoon system for the town of Grayson. She also was successful in securing funding to repair roads, drainage, tin horners, park equipment and planned expansion of the community center programs. A Start Summer Program for Youth was founded with a $5,000 grant. Mayor Fox also received funding to replace ten low-income homes, at no costs to the residents, with new manufactured homes. Eight additional low-income seniors received loans and grants to rehab existing homes.

Ms. Fox received the Good Housekeeping Award for Women in Government in 2003 and the ââ?¬Å?Keeping the Past Aliveââ?¬ award the same year. The Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, noting that her ââ?¬Å?outstanding leadership in the development of rural communities in the south and your continued struggle for economic and social justiceââ?¬, recognized her in 2004.

In 1999, Mayor Fox was the subject of an NBC documentary. She was also featured in an article in the 2005 edition of ââ?¬Å?Black Mayors in Americaââ?¬. She states that the ââ?¬Å?Town of Grayson, which started out with 66 people was able to receive grants in the last 14 years of over $2,000,000. This is a life experience most small towns dream about.