FARMINGTON – Local news legend Barbara Yeaton, 92, died Friday night at Franklin Memorial Hospital.

Yeaton, a freelance writer and photographer for The Lewiston Daily Sun and Evening Journal for 55 years, will be remembered for her commitment and contribution to journalism in the Franklin County region.

The Sun Journal has worked with hundreds of freelancers over the years, “but Barbara was a stalwart – she was the epitome of a freelancer,” Rex Rhoades, Sun Journal executive editor, said Sunday.

“She was intelligent,” said Polly Ouimet, regional news director at the Sun Journal during Yeaton’s time as a freelancer. “If you needed a picture or something like this, no problem … there were no excuses.”

“She was extremely productive and a prolific writer, and doggedly dedicated to her community,” said state Rep. Janet Mills, former district attorney in tri-county area. “She wouldn’t leave you alone until she got an answer.”

“What I remember about her before I even became her supervisor is that she covered everything,” said Sun Journal City Editor Karen Kreworuka. “Even when she was in her 70s you couldn’t get her to stop.”

Motivated by a lack of news coverage in her Farmington community, Yeaton began writing for The Lewiston Daily Sun in 1949, when women in journalism were a rarity.

“I just started doing it. Of course, we took the Lewiston Sun and I noticed there wasn’t much news about Farmington, so I just started writing it,” Yeaton told the Sun Journal in June 1999.

Yeaton was a self-taught journalist who “had no training other than a desire to do it,” according to Kreworuka.

“When few other women were out there, she was out there with her Remington typewriter, catching every word that people said,” Mills said. “She was a pioneer among women journalists.”

The news in Franklin County hasn’t been the same since Yeaton retired from journalism in 2004, according to Mills.

“We’ve missed her sorely since she retired from writing,” Mills said.

“She was our eyes and ears in that area,” Sun Journal Publisher James Costello Sr. said Sunday evening. “She covered news whenever or wherever it happened.”

“If something was happening, Barbara Yeaton was there,” Kreworuka said. “She didn’t turn down any assignment.”

Yeaton would stop at nothing to bring the news to her community. According to Rhoades, legend has it that Yeaton would develop film in her car as she drove from Farmington to the newsroom in Lewiston.

“You get a feeling,” Yeaton explained to the Sun Journal in 1999. “And when you go out after something, you want to get it.”

“She was quite a woman,” Ouimet recalled fondly. “She was a dedicated lady – just someone you could trust.”