Helen Marie Credle (Bootsie) was born on September 3, 1941, in Roxbury Massachusetts, the eldest child to Robert Credle and Marguerite Credle Howard, and big sister to her four siblings, Robert Credle, Andrew Howard, Martin Howard, and Ritajayne Howard Rivera.

The love of Helen’s life was her son Das Dreher. To say that she was a devoted mother is an understatement. Every breath she took, every beat of her heart was for her son Das. Das has blessed Helen with a beautiful granddaughter named Zoe.

Helen leaves behind an enormous loving family. Her grandson, sisters Margaret and Charlotte, and several nieces, nephews, and great nieces and nephews.

Helen loved growing up in Roxbury. She attended Boston Public Schools and went on to Boston University. As a teenager she loved dancing around the living room with her girlfriends. They wore white bobby socks, white shirts, and poodle skirts. This love for dancing led to a lifelong relationship with the renowned Elma Lewis. After Boston University Helen moved to New York to advance her modeling career. She was stunning.

Returning to Boston, Helen dedicated her life, along with her brother Bobby, in service to the Roxbury Community in multiple dimensions of social justice, dance, music, politics, prison reform and re-entry, fashion, education, community pedagogy and lastly as a writer and living stories archivist.

Some of her many accolades include being the first black woman at Life Magazine and a runway model mentored by Dorothea Towles. Her work with Mayor Kevin White and the BANTU at Walpole Maximum Security Prison led to the first time a prisoner had ever been released from death row. She designed and directed the Mature Worker Program at the Urban League placing 3,500 people in jobs they would otherwise not have received due to age discrimination. Her political and jazz education came directly from her close relationships with the late Freddy Hubbard, Jimmy Sapulding, James Baldwin, and Malcom X.

Helen’s final contribution to the community was as the Associate Director of Community Engagement at Emerson College’s Elma Lewis Center. Just this past May 2026 Emerson awarded Helen an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. Her citation called her a “champion of community, culture, and intergenerational storytelling.”

Helen Marie Credle was a force to be reckoned with. She was a beautiful person who lived a remarkable life.