Helen Wallbank Milliken (December 4, 1922[1] – November 16, 2012) was an American women's rights activist, environmentalist, and former First Lady of Michigan.
[1][2] In 1943, she met her future husband, William Milliken, in Colorado while she was home for summer break after completing her freshman year at Smith College.
[2] Milliken was then a student at Yale University (located approximately 80 miles from Smith College), but he was stationed at Lowry Field's aerial gunnery school for training in the United States Army Air Corps.
[2] The couple married in October 1945, after having delayed their wedding six times due to Milliken's military commitments during the war.
Milliken succeeded to the position of Governor of Michigan in 1969 when Romney resigned to become United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development within President Richard Nixon's cabinet.
While Helen Milliken largely avoided political campaigns during her later life, she endorsed two prominent Democrats for election.