Helen Theresa (Keene) Cox, who grew up in Chelsea as the eldest of nine children and spent more than 60 years as a neighborhood organizer in Boston’s Fenway, died on August 4, 2026 at the Brudnick Center for Living in Peabody. She was 94.
She was a daughter of Richard and Maria (Sanchez) Keene of Chelsea. As an adult she made her home in the Fenway, where her phone calls to friends and politicians about elections, ballot questions and community meetings earned her the nickname “Mayor of The Fenway.”
Her organizing began with her job at the state Department of Public Welfare, where she staffed one of the first citizen welfare advisory boards in Massachusetts. She went on to help organize a tenant rent strike, fought for rent control and against condominium conversions, and sat on the board of The Fenway News from its founding in 1975 until 2025, writing a news digest in her own voice. She worked on campaigns for David Scondras, Mel King, Byron Rushing and Felix Arroyo, among others.
She was known in the family for never missing a graduation or wedding, and for slipping cash to nieces and nephews before a trip. She counted 89 nieces, nephews, grand-nephews and grand-nieces.
She leaves her sisters, Margaret Griffin of Saugus and Clarie Siegel of New Hampshire; her brother-in-law James Lang; sisters-in-law Jeanne Keene of Ohio and Donna Keene of Saugus; and Tracey Cusick of Boston, whom she regarded as a daughter. Her longtime companion Robert Mullen and her siblings Lawrence, Joseph, Mary, John, Michael and Francis died before her.
Visiting hours were held August 9 at the Carafa Family Funeral Home, 389 Washington Avenue, Chelsea, with a prayer service there on August 10 and burial at Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden.
Compiled from information published by Carafa Family Funeral Home, 389 Washington Avenue, Chelsea. Photograph courtesy of the family via Carafa Family Funeral Home. This is our own summary, not the family’s obituary; read the full obituary and leave a condolence at the funeral home’s page on Legacy.com. Corrections: we will fix any error promptly.