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'''Helen Jane Rehbein Farabee'''' (November 12, 1934 – July 28, 1988), was a 20th-century advocate of improved [[mental health]] and human services in [[Texas]]. She was the first wife of state Senator [[Ray Farabee]], an [[attorney]] originally from [[Wichita Falls]]. Their younger son, David Lee Farabee, a Wichita Falls [[business]]man, is a former member of the Texas House of Representatives. An older son, Steven R. Farabee (born 1961), resides in [[Austin], Texas..​

'''Helen Jane Rehbein Farabee'''' (November 12, 1934 – July 28, 1988), was a 20th-century advocate of improved [[mental health]] and human services in [[Texas]]. She was the first wife of state Senator [[Ray Farabee]], an [[attorney]] originally from [[Wichita Falls]]. Their younger son, David Lee Farabee, a Wichita Falls [[business]]man, is a former member of the Texas House of Representatives. An older son, Steven R. Farabee (born 1961), resides in [[Austin], Texas.

 

==Biography==​

==Biography==​

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Farabee was born in Appleton in Outagamie County in east central [[Wisconsin]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.utexas.edu/gtw/ipage.php?id=189|title=Great Texas Women|publisher=utexas.edu|accessdate=December 8, 2009}}</ref> to Wilmer C. Rehbein (1902–1991) and Myra Grace Rehbein (1905–1991). Her parents succumbed within four months of each other some three years after her own death.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi|title=Social Security Death Index|publisher=ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=December 8, 2009}}</ref> Helen graduated in 1957 from the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]]. She was the first female yet elected as a student body president at a Big Ten institution.<ref name=handbook>{{cite web|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ffa33|author=Debbie Mauldin Cottrell |title= Helen Jane Rehbein Farabee |publisher=The Handbook of Texas|publisher=tshaonline.org|accessdate=December 8, 2009}}</ref> ​

Farabee was born in Appleton in Outagamie County in east central [[Wisconsin]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.utexas.edu/gtw/ipage.php?id=189|title=Great Texas Women|publisher=utexas.edu|accessdate=December 8, 2009}}</ref> to Wilmer C. Rehbein (1902–1991) and Myra Grace Rehbein (1905–1991). Her parents succumbed within four months of each other some three years after her own death.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi|title=Social Security Death Index|publisher=ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=December 8, 2009}}</ref> In 1957, she graduated from the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]]. She was the first female yet elected as a student body president at a Big Ten institution.<ref name=handbook>{{cite web|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ffa33|author=Debbie Mauldin Cottrell |title= Helen Jane Rehbein Farabee |publisher=The Handbook of Texas|publisher=tshaonline.org|accessdate=December 8, 2009}}</ref> ​

Through her travels in student government, she met Ray Farabee, the president of the student body at the [[University of Texas]] at Austin. The couple wed on December 6, 1958. While her husband served in the [[United States Air Force]], Helen worked for the defunct ''Dallas Times-Herald'' (former competitor to the ''Dallas Morning News'')  and ''Better Homes and Gardens'' [[magazine]]. In Austin, she was an assistant dean of women at UT and worked with the James Stephen Hogg  Foundation for Mental Health, while her husband completed his [[Juris Doctor]]ate law degree.<ref name=handbook/>​

Through her travels in student government, she met Ray Farabee, the president of the student body at the [[University of Texas]] at Austin. The couple wed on December 6, 1958. While her husband served in the [[United States Air Force]], Helen worked for the defunct ''Dallas Times-Herald'' (former competitor to the ''Dallas Morning News'')  and ''Better Homes and Gardens'' [[magazine]]. In Austin, she was an assistant dean of women at UT and worked with the James Stephen Hogg  Foundation for Mental Health, while her husband completed his [[Juris Doctor]]ate law degree.<ref name=handbook/>​

 

In 1961, the Farabees moved to her husband's native Wichita Falls, where she began voluntary work with the local mental health and mental retardation board and the Wichita Falls State Hospital. By 1965, she joined her fellow Democrat  and future lieutenant governor, [[William P. Hobby, Jr., of [[Houston, Texas|Houston]] to encourage the state legislature to establish the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, known as MHMR.<ref name=handbook/> From 1972-1974 and again in 1985, she was the president of the Texas Association of Mental Health. [[First Lady of the United States]] [[Rosalynn Carter]] appointed her to the Public Committee on Mental Health. She also served on numerous special commissions in Texas and headed the State Mental Health Code Task Force  from 1981to 1983, which culminated its work in the revision of the 1957 Texas mental health code. The new laws, pushed to passage in the state Senate by her husband, were signed into law in 1983 by Democratic [[Governor]] [[Mark White]].<ref name=handbook/>​

In 1961, the Farabees moved to her husband's native Wichita Falls, where she began voluntary work with the local mental health and mental retardation board and the Wichita Falls State Hospital. By 1965, she joined her fellow Democrat  and future lieutenant governor, [[William P. Hobby, Jr., of [[Houston, Texas|Houston]] to encourage the state legislature to establish the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, known as MHMR.<ref name=handbook/> From 1972-1974 and again in 1985, she was the president of the Texas Association of Mental Health. [[First Lady of the United States]] [[Rosalynn Carter]] appointed her to the Public Committee on Mental Health. She also served on numerous special commissions in Texas and headed the State Mental Health Code Task Force  from 1981to 1983, which culminated its work in the revision of the 1957 Texas mental health code. The new laws, pushed to passage in the state Senate by her husband, were signed into law in 1983 by Democratic [[Governor]] [[Mark White]].<ref name=handbook/>​

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