Daughter of Nevada Senator Joseph M. Foley and Betty (Bradshaw) Foley; Helen is the niece to Roger D. Foley, Thomas Foley, George Foley, and John Patrick Foley, and the granddaughter of Roger Thomas Foley and Helen (Drummond) Foley. She has served in both houses of the Nevada Legislature and now co-owns a Public Relations firm.

Barbara Ann Barnett was born July 24, 1936 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Ralph Eugene Goodman and Katherine Cynthia Pendergrass. Barnett moved to Nevada in 1959. When she first moved to Nevada she worked as an accountant for a small business. Afterwards she became a licensed practical nurse and worked at Rose de Lima Hospital in the psychiatric unit. Barnett came to Nevada with her husband William Barnett the two divorced in 1961. Barnett gave birth to her sone in September of 1963.