Roberts, Betty, 1923-2011
Biography
Betty Lucille Roberts, nee Cantrell, was born in Kansas in 1923. She grew up in Wichita Falls, Texas, where her family struggled greatly throughout the Depression. In 1942, she married Bill Rice, a drill instructor in the U.S. Army Air Forces, and after the end of World War II, they settled in Portland, Oregon, where he worked as a banker. Roberts continued her education while raising a family, and she graduated from Portland State University in 1958. Rice objected to her acceptance of a high school teaching position, and they divorced soon after. She soon got involved in local politics and was elected to the school board in the Lynch Elementary School District in East Portland, Oregon. In 1960, she married Oregon politician Frank L. Roberts. In 1961, she earned a master of science in political science from the University of Oregon, then took night classes at Northwestern College of Law in Portland. She graduated in 1965 and passed the bar in 1966. She was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives as a Democrat while still in law school. She represented Multnomah County in the Oregon House from 1965 to 1968. She and Frank L. Roberts divorced in 1966, and she married Oregon Representative Keith Skelton in 1968, the same year she won a seat in the Oregon Senate, where she served from 1969 to 1977. She ran unsuccessfully for Oregon governor in 1974, and was appointed by Governor Bob Straub to the Oregon Court of Appeals in 1977. She was appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court in 1982 by Governor Vic Atiyeh, and she retired in 1986. After retiring, she focused her efforts on women's rights. She helped found Oregon Women Lawyers in 1989, and she presided over the state's first legal same-sex marriage ceremony in 2004. She died in 2011.
Found in 6 Collections and/or Records:
Oral history interview with Wallace P. Carson, Jr.
Oral history interview with Wallace P. Carson, Jr. conducted by Clark Hansen from June 12 to October 24, 1996, as part of the United States District Court Oral History Project. Carson served on the Oregon Supreme Court from 1982 to 2006 and was chief justice for 14 years.
Oral history interview with Norma Paulus
Oral history interview with Norma Paulus conducted by Clark Hansen from February 10, 1999, to November 2, 2000, and from February 10-27, 2010. Paulus served as a state legislator from 1970 to 1976 and as Oregon secretary of state from 1977 to 1985.
Oral history interview with Betty Roberts
Oral history interview with Betty Roberts conducted by Linda S. Dodds from October 29 to November 14, 1980. Roberts served in the Oregon House of Representatives from 1965 to 1968, and in the Oregon Senate from 1969 to 1977.
Oral history interview with Betty Roberts
Oral history interview with Betty Roberts conducted by Katherine Huff O'Neil from October 24, 2005, to February 27, 2007, as part of the Women Trailblazers series of the United States District Court Oral History Project. Roberts was an Oregon state representative, a state senator, a judge on the Oregon Court of Appeals, and a state Supreme Court justice.
Oral history interview with Betty Roberts
Oral history interview with Judge Betty Roberts conducted by Clark Hansen as part of the Oregon Legislature Oral History Series. Roberts was an Oregon Court of Appeals judge and state Supreme Court justice.
Oral history interview with Keith D. Skelton
Oral history interview with Keith D. Skelton conducted by Clark Hansen from November 9, 1994, to May 12, 1995, as part of the Oregon Legislature Oral History Series. Skelton was an Oregon state representative for Lane County from 1957 to 1960, and for Multnomah County from 1965 to 1974.