[2][3] She attended the Worcester campus of Becker Junior College on a government loan, where she graduated in 1964 with a two-year degree to become a legal secretary.

[7] While president of Southwest Airlines, Barrett was diagnosed with breast cancer, which was successfully treated with surgery and radiation treatment.

[8] In 1968, several years after graduating from Becker, Barrett got a job as a legal secretary working for Herb Kelleher when he was a young lawyer at Wilbur Matthews' law firm in San Antonio.

[9][10] Kelleher had a reputation as a skilled, but chronically disorganized lawyer, whose office was in such disarray that a night guard at the firm once called the police assuming a break-in had occurred.

[10] She grew to play a pivotal role in keeping Kelleher organized, setting him up for his eventual success as both a lawyer and businessman over their 51-year working relationship.

[9] Despite the title of secretary, Barrett was treated as an equal and trusted advisor who regularly joined Kelleher in court.

[7][10] In 1967, Kelleher had met with Rollin King, who had pitched the initial business plan for Southwest Airlines and the two had begun their efforts to begin the company.

When they transitioned to Southwest full-time, they both took a leave of absence from the Oppenheimer law firm that technically was never cancelled for the remainder of their careers.

At first, this authority came simply from the high level influence she had with Kelleher as his secretary, though she eventually gained more formal recognition as Vice President of Administration in 1986[13] and a position on the Executive Planning Committee.

[7][10] Barrett had been credited with helping fundamentally shape Southwest's customer service strategy, employee culture, and leadership philosophy.

She started by inheriting a difficult labor dispute with the Transport Workers Union of America representing Southwest ground operations agents.

[16] She generated some criticism for the airline in 2007 when she publicly defended an employee's decision to forbid a customer from boarding a flight for wearing a mini-skirt.

The airline also consistently had the fewest complaints according to the Department of Transportation, an accomplishment largely credited to Barrett's focus on customer service.