Helen Corey, who had been a member of WPCI for 62 years, died Jan. 28 in Terre Haute.
Corey was an award-winning cookbook author, publisher, television producer, lecturer and educator. She was author of six books celebrating the food and heritage of her ancestral land in the Middle East, including her family’s recipes and stories of the immigrant experience in America.
Among her career highlights: She was the first Arab American to be elected to a statewide office and she was author of an award-winning bestseller, The Art of Syrian Cookery.
Corey was WPCI’s 2017 Communicator of Achievement, and she has won several awards from WCPI and National Federation of Press Women for her books. In 2022, she was featured in Arab Indianapolis organization’s yearbook, which spotlights notable Arab Americans in Indiana and their achievements and contributions.
Corey was born Oct. 9, 1923, in Canton, Ohio, to Syrian immigrants. She moved with her family to Terre Haute in the mid-1940s where she quickly became an active in civic, church and political activities.
She swiftly rose in political circles, often becoming the first woman or first Arab American (or both) to hold various offices, including director of the Bureau of Women and Children in the Indiana Division of Labor. She was executive secretary of the state’s Commission on the Status of Women. She was elected recorder of the Indiana Supreme and Appellate Courts.
When her political career waned, she founded Corey Advertising Specialties.
More:
See Corey’s obituary.
