Helen F. Satterthwaite

Helen F. Satterthwaite (born July 8, 1928) was an American politician.

Born in western Pennsylvania, Satterthwaite went to public school in the rural Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. She received her bachelor's degree in chemistry from Duquesne University. In 1961, Satterthwaite, her husband Cameron, and family moved to Urbana, Illinois. She worked at the College of Veterinary Medicine at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign as a laboratory technician. Satterthwaite served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1975 to 1993 and was a Democrat.

For most of her tenure, Satterthwaite represented a compact, urban district that included portions of Champaign and Urbana, including the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. However, in the 1990 redistricting, Satterthwaite's home in Urbana was drawn into the same district as Republican Tim Johnson. Satterthwaite now found herself in territory that was significantly more rural and Republican than its predecessor; Republicans had a 3-to-1 edge in registration. She also lost her longstanding base at U of I. At that election, Satterthwaite was heavily defeated, taking only 39 percent of the vote.