Chenoweth-Hage, Helen P. (Helen Palmer), 1938-2006

Helen Palmer Chenoweth-Hage (January 27, 1938 – October 2, 2006) was an American businesswoman, consultant, lobbyist, lecturer, and politician. A member of the Republican Party, she served three terms in the U.S. House from Idaho from 1995 to 2001.

Born in Kansas, her family moved west to Los Angeles when Helen was a year old, then north to southern Oregon when she was 12, to run a dairy farm near Grants Pass. A musician, horse enthusiast, and athlete, she attended Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington on music scholarship (double bass), where she met her first husband, Nick Chenoweth, while working in a cafeteria. The two married in 1958 and settled in his hometown, Orofino, Idaho, where they ran a ski shop near the modest Bald Mountain ski area. Later, Helen developed and managed the Northside Medical Clinic, where she initiated a physician recruitment practice for under-served rural communities. After divorcing, Helen Chenoweth moved to Boise to become executive director of the Idaho Republican Party from 1975 until 1977. She went on to serve as then-Congressman Steve Symms' District Director in 1977 through his re-election in 1978, then started her own business, Consulting Associates, and became a noteworthy lobbyist.

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