View source for Helen Hunley

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| name             =  Helen Hunley
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|AOE|size=100%}}
| image =
| caption =
| office1 = [[Legislative Assembly of Alberta|Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta]] 
| constituency1 = [[Rocky Mountain House (electoral district)|Rocky Mountain House]]
| term_start1 = August 30, 1971
| term_end1 = March 14, 1979
| predecessor1 = [[Alfred Hooke]]
| successor1 = [[John Murray Campbell]]
| office = 12th [[Lieutenant Governor of Alberta]]
| term_start = January 22, 1985
| term_end = March 11, 1991
| predecessor = [[Frank C. Lynch-Staunton|Frank Lynch-Staunton]]
| successor = [[Gordon Towers]]
| monarch = [[Elizabeth II]]
| governor_general = [[Jeanne Sauvé]]<br>[[Ray Hnatyshyn]]
| premier = [[Peter Lougheed]]<br>[[Don Getty]]
| party = [[Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta|Progressive Conservative]]
| birth_name = Wilma Helen Hunley
| birth_date = {{birth date|1920|9|6}}
| birth_place = [[Acme, Alberta]], Canada
| death_date = {{nowrap|{{death date and age|2010|10|22|1920|9|6}}}}
| death_place = [[Rocky Mountain House]], Alberta, Canada
| spouse = 
| children =
| relations =
| residence = [[Rocky Mountain House]]
| alma_mater = 
| occupation = Telephone operator, insurance businesswoman
}}

'''Wilma Helen Hunley''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|AOE}} (September 6, 1920 – October 22, 2010) was a Canadian politician and the [[List of lieutenant governors of Alberta|12th]] [[Lieutenant Governor of Alberta]], the first woman to serve in that post.

==Early life==
She was born in [[Acme, Alberta]], to James Edgar Hunley and Esta May Hunley.  She first worked as an operator, served overseas in the [[Canadian Women's Army Corps]] during World War II and eventually owned and operated an [[International Harvester]] franchise and an insurance business.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sanderson|first=Kay|title=200 Remarkable Alberta Women|year=1999|publisher=Famous Five Foundation|location=Calgary|page=93|url=http://www.ourfutureourpast.ca/loc_hist/page.aspx?id=917864}}{{Dead link|date=October 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>

==Political career==
Hunley served as a town councilor from 1960 to 1966 and then mayor of [[Rocky Mountain House]], Alberta, from 1966 to 1971.  Hunley was elected to the province's [[legislative assembly]] as a [[Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta|Progressive Conservative]]. She was the province's [[cabinet (government)|cabinet]] minister serving as [[Minister Without Portfolio]] from 1971 to 1973, [[Solicitor|Solicitor-General]] from 1973 to 1975 and then Minister of Social Services and Community Health from 1975 until 1979 when she retired from politics.

In June, 1980, Hunley was appointed chair of the Alberta Mental Health Advisory Council. She also served on the Alberta 75th Anniversary Commission.

Hunley became president of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta in 1984 and, in 1985, was appointed by [[Governor General of Canada|Governor General]] [[Jeanne Sauvé]], on the advice of [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] [[Brian Mulroney]], to the position of lieutenant-governor. She served in the position until 1991. In 1992, she was made an Officer of the [[Order of Canada]].

==Arms==
{{Infobox COA wide
|escutcheon = Azure a pile reversed of ears of wheat Or issuant from base and in chief two mullets also Or;
|crest = A demi lion Or armed Gules wearing a coronet érablé Azure and gorged with a collar of wild roses leaved proper holding between the forepaws a torch Azure enflamed Or and Gules;
|supporters = On a compartment of grassland proper dexter a horse Or langued Gules crined, queued and unguled Azure gorged with a collar Azure pendant therefrom a lozenge Azure charged with a key in pale its ward firred Or sinister a deer Or attired and unguled Azure gorged with a like collar and pendant;
|motto = WITH COURAGE WE SERVE <ref>{{cite web | url=http://reg.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/project.asp?lang=e&ProjectID=1518&ShowAll=1 | title=The Public Register of Arms, Flags, and Badges of Canada | date=12 November 2020 }}</ref> }}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last1=Perry |first1=Sandra E. |last2=Powell |first2=Karen L. |title=On Behalf of the Crown : Lieutenant Governors of the North-West Territories and Alberta, 1869-2005 |year=2006 |publisher=Legislative Assembly of Alberta |location=[[Edmonton]], Alberta |isbn=0-9689217-4-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/centennialseries03perr }}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930024650/http://www.assembly.ab.ca/legislaturecentennial/pdf/membersBooklet.pdf Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing]

{{Lougheed Ministry}}

{{ABLG}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunley, Helen}}
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:2010 deaths]]
[[Category:Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs]]
[[Category:Lieutenant governors of Alberta]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Women MLAs in Alberta]]
[[Category:Members of the Alberta Order of Excellence]]
[[Category:Members of the Executive Council of Alberta]]
[[Category:Canadian women viceroys]]
[[Category:Women government ministers of Canada]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta]]