Addie Lee Barker, 89, of Norman, died June 15. Services will be 10 a.m. Monday at Guardian Funeral Home of Norman. Interment will follow at the IOOF Cemetery. Informal visitation is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at the funeral home. Born to Claud and Avo (Berry) Pickard Nov. 13, 1916, in Norman, she lived nearly all her life in Norman. Her family has a long history in Norman as Pickard Avenue was named after her father and her uncle, Clyde. She was a 1935 graduate of Norman High School. Barker received her journalism degree from OU in 1939. Shortly after graduation, she went to work full-time at OU, beginning a career that would span most of the next 40 years and find her being a pioneer in the field of intercollegiate athletics. She had originally begun working at OU as a student, serving as a secretary for the College of Engineering and as a student assistant for public information. She worked two years as head proof reader at University Press, then left OU for a year to work for Phillips Petroleum in Phillips, Texas, as a secretary. She returned to OU in 1944 as an administrative assistant in the College of Engineering. In 1951, she was hired as the secretary for then-OU sports information director, the late Harold Keith, and an award-winning partnership was formed. It wasn't long after she was hired Keith realized the talents she brought to the job, writing in a letter requesting a promotion for her that "at last I would have somebody who could correct my spelling and straighten out my diction." She was promoted to sports information assistant in 1952 and held that title until she retired from OU in November 1979. Barker played a key role in the day-to-day operations of the office but it was on football Saturdays that she became a pioneer in the field. According to the tribute Keith wrote in 1979 when Barker retired, "she became the heartbeat of the press box. It was my job as sports publicist to make sure everything was ready for the game but when Saturday came, everyone directed all their inquiries to Addie Lee because they knew that while I was fairly knowledgeable six days a week, I wouldn't know anything on Saturday." For a number of years, Barker was the only woman in the country who ran a football press box because many schools adhered to the policy of "No Women in the Press Box." At OU, Barker was in charge on Saturdays. The OU press box was recognized many times as one of the best in the country and Keith always pointed to Barker as the reason for the award. In 1967, the press box received an A for facilities and an A-plus for service, the only A-plus given in the country that year. And the facilities grade came despite the fact there were no women's restrooms in the three-level box that was built in 1949. She wrote an article for Oklahoma Today in 1958, recounting a typical Saturday in the press box at Owen Field. Through her in-depth descriptions, readers were given a detailed view inside the press box during a Sooner home game. She and Keith worked shoulder to shoulder, creating the award-winning media guides for the Sooner teams. Barker, whose father played football for OU and Bennie Owen and lettered in 1904-05 and 1908, served as a writer, researcher and proof reader for the media guides, many of which were judged "Best in the Nation" by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Their partnership extended to Keith's award-winning children and adult books as Barker was the person he trusted to type the manuscripts. She helped train hundreds of student employees who would go on to work as PR professionals in the corporate world, sports publicists at colleges and conferences throughout the country as well as a wide variety of other jobs including district attorneys, judges, newspaper owners and university presidents. Her kind and calm approach to the daily chaos that is so much a part of intercollegiate athletics provided a role model and she served as a mentor to many people. Prior to her retirement, Barker talked about the "temporary" job that had become her lifetime career. "I only intended to work five or six months when I took the job but I enjoyed it so much. It's been fun and it's nice to be associated with the No. 1 team and I think the No. 1 sports information directors." For all of those who came in contact with Barker, it was a great thing that she changed her mind and, in the process, changed the face of intercollegiate athletics forever. She was preceded in death by her parents Claud and Avo (Berry) Pickard; her brother Claud Pickard Jr.; and her daughter Gail Ann Barker. She is survived by her sons Forrest Andrew Barker of Annandale, Va., and Norman Alan Barker of Oklahoma City; her brother Colonel (Ret.) Andrew Dee Pickard of Boerne, Texas; her sister Mary Bess (Pickard) Gamel of Norman; six grandchildren and her best friend since second grade Alice Harris. The family asks memorial contributions be made to Heartland Hospice Services, 1100 North Porter, Suite 104, Norman, OK., 73071.