Helen Everson was born on Aug. 16, 1919, in a sod house on a ranch in northwest South Dakota to Herbert T. and Marie (Eucker) Oliver.
Helen developed her work ethic as a young girl growing up on a ranch near Lemmon, S.D. When she was 5, she began riding a horse to her country school. She worked for her room and board while attending Lemmon High School and graduated when she was 16. After she graduated from a business school, she was hired as a secretary at ACE Buick in Madison. When she was just 22, Helen was already the secretary and treasurer of the company that included Minnesota dealerships in Hibbing and St. Paul.
Helen met Harland Everson at a soap box derby in Madison, and they were married in 1949. Together they had two daughters, Diane and Carol, and two grandsons, Eric and Tyler.
They bought The Edgerton Reporter in 1951. Helen was the face of the newspaper for years, especially after Harland spent 12 years at the state Capitol as a legislator starting in 1970. He died in 1992. Under Helen’s watchful eye, the paper earned numerous state and national awards, including the top award from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association for General Excellence in its circulation category in 2006. In 1978, Helen’s daughter, Diane, joined the newspaper, eventually becoming the paper’s publisher, editor and advertising manager.
Helen died on Nov. 27, 2017, at her home in Edgerton. She was 98.
