Betty Roberts
| Betty Roberts | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court | |
|
In office 1982–1986 |
|
| Appointed by | Victor Atiyeh |
| Preceded by | Thomas Tongue |
| Succeeded by | Michael Gillette |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
February 5, 1923 Arkansas City, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | June 25, 2011 (aged 88) Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Bill Rice (1942–1959) Frank Roberts (1960–1965) Keith Skelton (1968–1995) |
| Alma mater |
Texas Wesleyan University Eastern Oregon University Portland State University University of Oregon Lewis and Clark College |
Betty Cantrell Roberts (February 5, 1923 – June 25, 2011) was a politician and judge in the U.S. state of Oregon. She was the 83rd Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, the highest state court in Oregon. She was the first woman on the Oregon Supreme Court, and had also been the first woman on the Oregon Court of Appeals. Roberts served from 1982 to 1986 on the high court and from 1977 to 1982 on the Court of Appeals.
A native of Kansas and raised in Texas, Roberts had previously been elected to both chambers of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, but lost bids for the governor's office and the United States Senate, both in 1974. She was married three times, including to Frank L. Roberts and Keith Skelton, both of whom she would serve with in the Oregon Legislative Assembly. She was a private mediator and senior judge until her death due to pulmonary fibrosis.
Betty Cantrell was born in Arkansas City, Kansas, on February 5, 1923. When she was six, her father became partially paralyzed and the family moved to Texas to be near her mother's family. In Texas, Roberts was raised poor during the Great Depression of the 1930s. She graduated from high school and then attended Texas Wesleyan College in Ft. Worth for one year starting in 1940. She married Bill Rice, a young soldier from Oregon during World War II in 1942 who was stationed at Sheppard Field. After the war they moved to Oregon, where Bill was a banker, with the family living in Klamath Falls, Lakeview, Gresham, and La Grande. By the 1950s Roberts was the mother of four children, Dian, John Jr., Jo, and Randy.
Roberts enrolled at Eastern Oregon College in La Grande for a single year in 1955. After the family moved to Portland, she enrolled at Portland State College where she graduated in 1958 with a bachelor of science degree in education. From 1958 to 1967, Roberts taught high school in the Portland metropolitan area at Reynolds High School, Centennial High School, and David Douglas High School before moving on to teach business law and political science at Mt. Hood Community College from 1967 to 1976. She and Bill Rice divorced in 1959. She became a member of the Lynch Elementary School District school board, serving from 1960 to 1966. She married Frank L. Roberts in 1960, adopting his name and retaining it after their divorce in 1965.
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