BETTY FLANAGAN BUMPERS
Wife of Dale Leon Bumpers, 38th Governor (1971-1975)

Born:
Children: two sons, one daughter
Original Home: Charleston and Fort Smith, Arkansas

Prior to marrying Dale Bumpers on September 4, 1957, Betty Flanagan attended Iowa State University, the University of Arkansas, the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and taught the fifth grade. Before becoming First Lady of Arkansas she had served in the roles of wife, mother, elementary schoolteacher, church worker, garden club member and had been an aggressive campaigner for her husband.

Betty Bumpers was an active First Lady. She was instrumental in a program called "Every Child in '73" which succeeded in immunizing ninety percent of the school-aged children in Arkansas. She participated in the effort to have the public health nurse program included under the State Health Department. She continued efforts made by Mrs. Rockefeller to extend an appreciation of the arts to schoolchildren in the state. She attempted to share the Governor's Mansion with the people of Arkansas and set up tours of the house and grounds for schoolchildren. Scouts identifying trees found on the grounds can now earn a merit badge.

Betty Bumpers continued her activities as a Senator's wife. She assisted in the development of a plan for the immunization of the nation's schoolchildren that was fashioned after the Arkansas plan. Concerned about the nuclear arms race, she founded Peace Links, a grassroots organization that works "to create peace in any way they can, at any level."