On Saturday, Helen Thomas will speak in Salt Lake City at Rowland Hall St. Mark's School in a free event open to the public. The event, to be held at 7 p.m. in the dining hall at 720 Guardsman Way, inaugurates the McCarthey Family Lecture Series.

For 57 years, Thomas served as White House correspondent for United Press International (UPI). As White House bureau chief, she blazed trails for women in journalism as she covered presidents beginning with John Kennedy. She now pens a syndicated column with Hearst Newspapers.

Thomas attended public schools in Detroit and graduated from Wayne State University. She began her journalism career at the Washington Daily News as a copy girl and joined UPI in 1943.

Thomas covered federal government early in her career until 1960, when she began covering president-elect Kennedy. She went on to cover the administrations of Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton.

Thomas, 86, has written several books. Her latest is Watchdogs of Democracy? The Waning Washington Press Corps and How It Has Failed the Public.

Siblings Maureen, Philip, Sarah, Shaun and Tom McCarthey said in a statement they established the lecture series to cultivate a lasting legacy for an independent press. The series will host public lectures by journalists who have demonstrated "the highest level of courageous, thoughtful and unbiased reporting," the family said.

Members of the McCarthey family were among the former owners of The Salt Lake Tribune.