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Derr was born to Edward and Bessie Clark in Clarks, a village in Merrick County, [[Nebraska]], near Grand Island in east central portion of that state.  She graduated from Rinard High School in Rinard in Calhoun County in western [[Iowa]]. Thereafter, she graduated from [[Iowa State University]] at Ames.<ref name=obit/>

Derr was born to Edward and Bessie Clark in Clarks, a village in Merrick County, [[Nebraska]], near Grand Island in east central portion of that state.  She graduated from Rinard High School in Rinard in Calhoun County in western [[Iowa]]. Thereafter, she graduated from [[Iowa State University]] at Ames.<ref name=obit/>

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Helen Clark married Harold J. Derr (September 7, 1917 &ndash; February 7, 1992),<ref name=ssdi>{{cite web|url=http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi|title=Social Security Death Index|publisher=ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=June 26, 2011; under pay wall}}</ref> later a [[forester]] with the United States Forest Service in [[Pineville, Louisiana|Pineville]], Louisiana. The couple had three children.<ref name=obit/>

Helen Clark married Harold J. Derr (September 7, 1917 &ndash; February 7, 1992),<ref name=ssdi>{{cite web|url=http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi|title=Social Security Death Index|publisher=ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=June 26, 2011; under pay wall}}</ref> later a forester with the United States Forest Service in [[Pineville, Louisiana|Pineville]], Louisiana. The couple had three children.<ref name=obit/>

When their older son, Russell Edward "Russ" Derr (March 27, 1947 &ndash; October 13, 2010),<ref name=ssdi/> was born, the Derrs were living in [[Jackson]], [[Mississippi]]. A landscape designer, Russell Derr died of lymphoma at the age of sixty-three in Burbank, [[California]].<ref>Russell Edward "Rusty" Derr Obituary, ''The Alexandria Daily Town Talk,'' November 3, 2010.</ref>  Harold and Helen had a daughter, Mary D. Sharkey of Ball, which adjoins Pineville, who is married to Richard Powell Sharkey, the managing editor of ''The Town Talk.'' Another son of Harold and Helen Derr, Allan Derr, and his wife, Betsy Derr, live in Villa Park, [[Illinois]]. Derr had seven grandchildren and a great-grandson. She had one sibling, a sister, Margaret Louise Dorr of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.<ref name=obit/> The sisters had similar married surnames, one with an "e" and the other with an "o".<ref>Net Detective People Search</ref>​

When their older son, Russell Edward "Russ" Derr (March 27, 1947 &ndash; October 13, 2010),<ref name=ssdi/> was born, the Derrs were living in [[Jackson]], [[Mississippi]]. A landscape designer, Russell Derr died of lymphoma at the age of sixty-three in Burbank, [[California]].<ref>Russell Edward "Rusty" Derr Obituary, ''The Alexandria Daily Town Talk,'' November 3, 2010.</ref>  Harold and Helen had a daughter, Mary D. Sharkey of Ball, which adjoins Pineville, who is married to Richard Powell Sharkey, the managing editor of ''The Town Talk.'' Another son of Harold and Helen Derr, Allan Derr, and his wife, Betsy Derr, live in Villa Park, [[Illinois]]. Derr had seven grandchildren and a great-grandson. She had one sibling, a sister, Margaret Louise Dorr of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.<ref name=obit/> The sisters had similar married surnames, one with an "e" and the other with an "o".<ref>Net Detective People Search</ref>​

 

==Journalism career==​

==Journalism career==

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Derr also reported on educational developments for ''The Town Talk,' including school [[Segregation|desegregation]] issues in the late 1960s. She covered an address given in 1966 at the Rapides Parish Coliseum by [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]] In 1969, she covered former [[U.S. President]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s visit to the First [[Baptist]] Church of [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]], Louisiana, where Johnson's maternal great-grandfather, George Washington Baines, had been the founding pastor in 1848. In the spring of 1976, Derr interviewed former [[Governor]] [[Jimmy Carter]] of [[Georgia]] in his presidential campaign stop in Pineville. Carter kissed her on the cheek as the interview closed.<ref name=derr>{{cite web|url=https://archive.is/20140424032025/http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20110623/NEWS01/106230360/Helen-Derr-co-founder-Friendship-House-Alexandria-dies-92?odyssey|title=Helen Derr, co-founder of Friendship in Alexandria, dies at 92 |publisher=''The Alexandria Daily Town Talk'' |accessdate=June 26, 2011 }}</ref>​

Derr also reported on educational developments for ''The Town Talk,' including school [[Segregation|desegregation]] issues in the late 1960s. She covered an address given in 1966 at the Rapides Parish Coliseum by [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]] In 1969, she covered former [[U.S. President]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s visit to the First [[Baptist]] Church of [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]], Louisiana, where Johnson's maternal great-grandfather, George Washington Baines, had been the founding pastor in 1848. In the spring of 1976, Derr interviewed former [[Governor]] [[Jimmy Carter]] of [[Georgia]] in his presidential campaign stop in Pineville. Carter kissed her on the cheek as the interview closed.<ref name=derr>{{cite web|url=https://archive.is/20140424032025/http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20110623/NEWS01/106230360/Helen-Derr-co-founder-Friendship-House-Alexandria-dies-92?odyssey|title=Helen Derr, co-founder of Friendship in Alexandria, dies at 92 |publisher=''The Alexandria Daily Town Talk'' |accessdate=June 26, 2011 }}</ref>​