All eyes are on Barack Obama today (or at least on HBO) as the nation’s most famous community organizer prepares to take office.

In keeping with his community organizer roots, Obama declared yesterday – Martin Luther King Jr. Day — a day of service. Listening to the news last night, I found the interviews with people who spent the holiday cleaning up parks, volunteering at shelters and even giving haircuts to those in need pretty inspiring.

No doubt former Lincoln Mayor Helen Boosalis would find such service inspiring, too. Before she was mayor, Boosalis was a volunteer and community organizer herself. Boosalis was also the first woman president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, as well as an outspoken advocate for economically distressed cities. Read all about Lincoln’s most famous community organizer in Mayor Helen Boosalis: My Mother's Life in Politics, by her daughter, Beth Boosalis Davis.

And speaking of, the January/February issue of the AARP's magazine has this to say about Mayor Helen Boosalis: A true pioneer in American politics, Helen Boosalis moved from being a housewife and volunteer to being elected the first female mayor of Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1975—then she became a nationally prominent advocate for troubled U.S. cities. Her inspiring story is told through the eyes of her daughter.