Helen Troy Monsen (1899-1989) was born in Skagway, Alaska to John Weir Troy and Minerva Lewis. In 1907, her family moved to Seattle where her parents separated and later divorced. Helen, her father, and her sister moved to Juneau, Alaska when John Troy became involved in publishing the Daily Alaska Empire in 1913. Helen graduated from Juneau High School in 1916 and studied journalism at the University of Washington. She married Robert William Bender in 1922 and the couple made their home in Seattle, New York, and California until they moved back to Juneau in 1932 to work with John Troy at the Daily Alaska Empire. Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed John Troy Governor of the Territory of Alaska in 1933. After John's appointment, Bob Bender took over as manager and editor of the Daily Alaska Empire. Because Helen's stepmother Ethel Troy, who John had married in 1916, was out of the state for health reasons, Helen acted as the hostess at the Governor's Mansion while John was governor. After Bob died in 1937, Helen took over as manager and editor of the Daily Alaska Empire. Helen remarried in 1941; her second husband, Alf Nikolai Monsen was a pilot for Pan American Airlines in Alaska. John Troy died and was buried in Juneau in 1942. In 1947 Alf died in a plane crash on Tamgas Mountain in Southeast Alaska. Helen continued her work at the Juneau Empire until 1955 when the company was sold. Helen lived in Juneau until 1966 when she retired to Palm Desert, California. She died in 1989.
From the description of Helen Troy Monsen collection, 1918-1954, 1920-1939. (Alaska State Library). WorldCat record id: 56470533
