Rockland, ME - March 3, 2008 - The Knox County Republicans are pleased to announce that Helen Shaw (Rockport) has decided to run for the District 46 seat being vacated by Rep. Dave Miramant (Camden).  She is running as a clean election candidate.

District 46 includes Camden and Rockport and was formerly held by Steve Bowen (Rockport).

Helen has been a resident of Rockport since 2003 when she and her family returned to her husband's home state.  Her roots to Maine include an ancestor who was a minister in Whitefield in the mid-1700s.  Since arriving in Rockport, Helen has been elected to the Rockport Charter Commission and is currently serving on the Camden-Rockport Pathways Committee and the Rockport Cemetery Committee.  Additionally, she is the Regent of the Lady Knox Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, is the vice-president and secretary of the Old Broad Bay Family History Association and is on the board of directors of the Maine Genealogical Society. 

Helen and her husband of 30 years, Bill Chapman, have two children, Will who is attending University of Southern Maine and Nate, a graduate of Camden Hills Regional High School, who is attending Landmark College in Putney, VT, and who plans to enroll at the University of Maine-Orono this fall.  Helen is a graduate of Leominister, MA, high school and has an bachelors degree from Ohio State University and a masters degree in Anthropology from the University of Michigan.  Her professional career prior to moving to Maine was in biomedical research with such institutions as University of Illinois School of Public Health, the American Medical Association and the UCLA/RAND Health Study.  She is currently involved in genealogical and historical research as a writer, speaker and teacher.

Before moving to Maine, Helen was a community activist in Chicago.  She was appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley to the Lincoln Park Community Conservation Council, was the chair of the neighborhood planning committee and served on the board of directors of the neighborhood association (in the City of Chicago, neighborhood associations function as advisors to the ward Aldermen, i.e. city council members).  She also served on the board of trustees for the Catherine Cook School in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.