Helen Pearle Atha
Looking north up Washington Street, the Holiday Parade route. Photo courtesy of Kirsten Mouton.
Helen “Pearle” Atha came to Chillicothe, Missouri with her husband in 1927 and opened a hat shop. After working for community groups, she became the Executive Secretary of the Chillicothe Chamber of Commerce in 1945 and held that post for the next 29 years. She was the Livingston County chairman for the Missouri State U.S. Savings Bond Committee. She served for a term on the advisory board of the Missouri State Chamber of Commerce. In 1954 she was appointed an honorary governor of the American Royal Livestock and Horse Show, the first woman ever to receive the title. Pearle was inducted into the 25-Year Club of the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, a national professional organization, in 1973. Pearle was involved in the formation of the Chillicothe Industrial Development Corporation. She was also instrumental in starting the Chillicothe Chamber of Commerce’s tradition of an annual Christmas Parade, with the first parade held in 1947. She retired in 1974 and passed in 1985.
No pictures of her could be located.