Barnette often returned to Athens where her father established Ohio University's journalism school. She was 93.
Mary Elizabeth Lasher Barnette, the first female editor-in-chief of The Post and a longtime journalist with family legacy at Ohio University, died Wednesday in Richmond, Indiana. She was 93.
The daughter of George Starr Lasher, founder and first director of the OU School of Journalism from 1921 to 1951, Barnette grew up in Athens, attended OU as a student and later returned to the city when she retired in 1989.
During her later time in Athens she used the last name from her second marriage, Myers, but later returned to using Barnette, which she preferred up until her death.
After becoming the first female editor of The Post, Barnette continued to break barriers for women in journalism throughout her career.
“What makes her remarkable from her student days was that she was the first female editor of The Post, and now we have a female editor of The Post, so we know that doesn't happen real, real often, even today,” said Bob Stewart, director of OU’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.
Upon graduating in 1942, Barnette became the first female reporter for a newspaper trade journal, Editor & Publisher, and the first woman in the retail advertising division at the American Newspaper Publishers Association.
She married her first husband, Kenneth A. Barnette, in 1946 with whom she had three daughters.
She later moved to Buffalo, New York, where her second husband, Lawrence B. Meyers, lived. While there, she worked on various publications and served as the News Service Director at SUNY Buffalo State College for 11 years before retiring.
Dru Evarts, an OU emerita journalism professor, said she remembers “Mary Lib,” as she was known to her friends, as being dedicated to students and, most importantly, as very classy.
“Mary Lib, she always dressed so beautifully and was always very pretty even at 85, 90 years old,” Evarts said. “She always was dressy and I don’t think she owned a pair of jeans or anything.”
And despite developing Alzheimer's disease later in life, Barnette always kept up her appearance, according to Betsey Bruce, Barnette’s eldest daughter.
“I never saw her without her makeup on,” Bruce said. “She was always put together, even in a nursing facility.”
Barnette was also characterized by her independence and dedication, which Bruce says may have stemmed from her role as a caretaker for her siblings following the death of her mother when she was 12 years old.
“She developed a real independent streak,” Bruce said. “Her father … supported that and he wanted (his children) to support themselves.”
Upon her return to Athens in the late ‘80s, Barnette focused on helping students succeed through the creation of scholarships in honor of her late father. Evarts said Barnette took particular joy in hearing about the experiences students were able to have thanks to being awarded her scholarships.
"She once wrote that she wanted students to be 'encouraged to read widely across the disciplines and trained to communicate clearly, precisely, and interestingly in both written and oral language, as well as accurately,'" Bruce said in an email.
OU will likely hold a memorial service for Barnette in July, Bruce said.
Barnette is survived by her three daughters, Elizabeth "Betsey," Kathleen and Melanie ; her sister Dorothy; and six grandchildren, Whitey, Justin, Matthew, Kathryn, Kenneth and Patrick.
Her brain was donated to the Indiana Alzheimer Disease Center.
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