Helen G. Barnett

Mrs. Barnett was born November 29, 1904, in Everett, a daughter of the late John and Gertrude A. (Glass) Clegg. She was married to Milton L. "Mickey" Barnett, who preceded her in death on August 3, 1973.

Mrs. Barnett was valedictorian of the Everett High School class of 1922 and attended Temple University, graduating with a degree in journalism. In 1939, she returned to Everett to work full-time at her parents' newspaper, the Everett Press. Helen purchased the Everett Press in 1946, and in 1958 changed the name of the paper to the Bedford County Press. She and her husband were publishers of the Bedford County Press from 1946 until February 1973. Helen did the editing of the newspaper and Mr. Barnett did the advertising and photography.

She was on the Pennsylvania Society of Newspaper Editors’ Board of Directors, vice-president of both the Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers’ Association, and the Women’s Press Association. Helen won national and state awards for news writing, feature articles, and editorials. She was named as one of the nation’s foremost women in communications.

Along with numerous newspaper awards, Helen was named Everett’s Citizen of the Year in 1976, and the Bedford Lions’ Club Citizen of the Month in April 1977.   Mrs. Barnett served as chairman of the Everett Bicentennial Committee in 1995.

At the age of 23, she was the first woman pilot in central Pennsylvania.  She made a solo flight out of the Altoona airport on November 8, 1930. 

She was one of the first women in the United States to fly.  She was a member of the select women's group called the Ninety-Nines, which included the first ninety-nine women to hold a pilot's license.  Helen flew a twin-engine WACO at air shows throughout the area.  Mrs. Barnett died July 3, 1998 and is buried in the Everett cemetery.