Betty Bumpers
| Betty Bumpers | |
|---|---|
Betty Bumpers in 1999
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| First Lady of Arkansas | |
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In office January 12, 1971 – January 3, 1975 |
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| Governor | Dale Bumpers |
| Preceded by | Jeannette Edris Rockefeller |
| Succeeded by | Claudia Riley (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Elizabeth Callans Flanagan January 11, 1925 Grand Prairie, Franklin County, Arkansas |
| Spouse(s) | Dale Bumpers |
| Children | 3 |
| Occupation | Teacher Activist |
| Known for | Advocacy for immunizations and world peace |
Elizabeth Callans Flanagan "Betty" Bumpers (born January 11, 1925) was First Lady of Arkansas, from 1971 to 1975. She is an advocate for childhood immunizations and world peace. She and Rosalynn Carter ran a successful campaign to ensure that all American school children were immunized. She is also the widow of Dale Bumpers, former State governor and U.S. Senator.
Betty Flanagan was born in the Grand Prairie community in Franklin County, Arkansas, on January 11, 1925, to salesman and auctioneer Herman Edward "Babe" Flanagan and his wife Ola Callans Flanagan. She grew up in Franklin County, except for a period during World War II when her family lived in Fort Smith and in the state of Iowa. After study at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and Iowa State University, she taught elementary school. In 1949 she married Dale Bumpers, a high school classmate who was then in law school at Northwestern University. After her husband finished law school, the couple settled in Charleston, Arkansas, where Dale Bumpers practiced law and Betty worked as an elementary school teacher. They had three children.
In 1970, Dale Bumpers was elected Governor of Arkansas. When he took office in 1971, Betty became the state's first lady. In that role, she decided to focus on the well-being of children and families. Responding to Arkansas' having one of the lowest rates of childhood immunization in the United States, she initiated a statewide campaign to immunize all of the state's children against childhood diseases. Her Every Child by '74 program, which involved cooperative effort by state government, professional organizations of doctors and nurses, the Arkansas National Guard, the University of Arkansas extension service, faith-based organizations, and other volunteers. It was a very successful campaign, delivering immunizations to over 350,000 children on just one Saturday near its peak. As a result of the program, the state attained one of the highest childhood immunization rates of any U.S. state. The Arkansas program was adopted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a model for nationwide use.
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