NASW Social Work Pioneer® Ruth Knee passed away on October 8, 2008.

Ruth Irelan Knee, 88, a retired social worker with the U.S. Public Health Service and a prominent figure in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), died Oct. 8 of lung cancer at her home in Fairfax County.

Mrs. Knee joined the Public Health Service in 1943 as one of its first psychiatric social workers. She later became the service’s liaison with the National Institute of Mental Health for policy development and technical assistance. Before she retired in 1973, she directed Public Health Service programs in long-term care.

A founder of NASW, she served two terms on its Board of Directors and also served on numerous committees, councils, task forces, and planning groups. She was co-founder of the association’s Social Work Pioneers® program to honor contributions to the profession. The NASW Knee/Wittman Health & Mental Health Achievement awards were named partly in her honor.

Mrs. Knee was active in other advocacy groups and was a consultant to federal agencies and private groups.

Ruth Ella Irelan was born in Sapulpa, Okla., and was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Oklahoma in 1941. She received a master’s degree in social service administration from the University of Chicago in 1945.

She was a member of the Cosmos Club, the Woman’s National Democratic Club and the Vienna Presbyterian Church.

Mrs. Knee and her husband established a fund at the University of Oklahoma to sponsor academic and community programs in public health, social work and fine arts.

Her husband of 38 years, Junior Koenig Knee, died in 1981.

There are no immediate survivors.

Excerpted from the Washington Post
Sunday, October 12, 2008

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NASW Social Work Pioneer® Frances Lomas Feldman, a USC professor and social work pioneer who conducted a groundbreaking study in the 1970s that showed cancer patients faced discrimination in the workplace, has died. She was 95. Feldman died at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena on Tuesday, a week after having a stroke, USC announced.

But the American Cancer Society, which funded the study, used her findings to call attention to the problem.
Researchers from around the world continue to seek out Feldman’s research, which was “an early look at a continuing problem,” according to USC. Several states also modified fair employment legislation because of the study, the National Assn. of Social Workers said on its website.

For more than 50 years, Feldman concentrated on the study of the social and psychological meanings of work and life. Her original research on the effect of financial stress on families led her to co-found a national network of nonprofit credit counseling services that continues to operate.

After joining USC as a professor of social work in 1954, Feldman was instrumental in establishing the first curriculum in the West devoted to industrial social work, which involves helping people cope in the workplace.

At USC, she also was a key founder of the California Social Welfare Archives, a volunteer organization that preserves the state’s social work history. “She almost single-handedly was responsible for the discovery and preservation of social welfare history in Southern California,” Marilyn Flynn, dean of the USC School of Social Work, said in a statement.

Among the 10 books Feldman wrote was “Human Services in the City of Angels: 1850-2000″ (2004). Her research showed that Los Angeles was a pioneer in social services, reimbursing citizens for taking care of sick strangers as early as 1850 and establishing city-run day-care centers in 1918.

The youngest of six children, she was born Dec. 3, 1912, in Philadelphia to Harry and Devora Lomas, Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. Her father was a master tailor who moved his family to Los Angeles when she was 8.

She considered medicine as a career but fainted and broke her nose while observing a brother perform surgery, so she made other plans, said Dona Munker, her only child.

“Somebody told her that by going into social work, you could help people even if you weren’t treating their bodies,” her daughter said.

At USC, Feldman ran a laundry service to pay tuition and received a bachelor’s degree in 1935. She earned a master’s degree in social work from the university in 1940.

In 1935, she married Albert G. Feldman, who was so captivated by the stories she told about her job as a social worker for the state that he left behind his work as a research chemist and followed her into the profession. He became deputy director of the USC Andrus Gerontology Center and died in 1975.

In the late 1960s, officials in Alaska asked Feldman to research the social service needs of the state’s native people, and her observations led to many improvements in basic services, according to USC.

In Alaska, Feldman — then in her 50s — rode on dog sleds and slept in igloos as she traveled to isolated Eskimo villages. The experience made the “natural optimist” want “to know how the rest of the world lived,” her daughter said. Feldman ended up traveling to more than 200 countries.

Although she retired in 1982, Feldman stayed involved with USC and drove twice a week to the school from her home in Pasadena.

For her 95th birthday, she renewed her driver’s license and received a perfect score on her test, said her daughter, her only immediate survivor.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, 6001 W. Centinela Ave., Culver City.

Memorial donations may be made to the Albert G. and Frances L. Feldman Fund for graduate scholarships at the USC School of Social Work, Montgomery Ross Fisher Building, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0411.
Source: Los Angeles Times Obituaries

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Ms. Diana Ming Chan, LCSW, ACSW was a professional social worker for 54 years since receiving her Masters in Social Work from the University of Minnesota. As with many great pioneering social workers, Ms. Chan worked tirelessly in direct services during this period starting with directing youth and family programs in Richmond, Oakland and San Francisco and completing her direct service career as a school social worker in San Francisco in 2000.

Early on Ms. Chan began to share her knowledge and experience through teaching - with social work students and with the parents of the families she was serving. Ms. Chan taught at City College of San Francisco, San Francisco State University and at many community agencies and public schools. Ms. Chan also served as an educator and trainer at the Shun Tin Children and Youth Center in Hong Kong.

Ms. Chan broke the “color” barrier as the first Cantonese speaking Chinese MSW in San Francisco Chinatown. She helped bring the “cultural” in cultural competence through her work and training with many social workers in clinics, churches and other private non profit organizations. She advocated for the recruitment and training of social workers of color during the civil rights and War On Poverty eras.

During the War on Poverty in President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration, Diana worked with a multidisciplinary team of individuals who successfully secured for the Chinatown/North Beach districts of San Francisco a designation as a “target” community. As a result, the team subsequently obtained funds to establish a broad range of agencies that did not previously exist in the Chinatown/North Beach communities. These agencies included Self-Help for the Elderly, Chinese Newcomers Service Center, Chinatown Child Development Center, Northeast Mental Health Services, and Kai Ming Head Start. Today, these agencies remain a vital and integral part of the community, providing a continuum of services to children, youth, families, and seniors.

Two other agencies began in the late 1970’s as the result of Diana’s vision. She worked with others to form North East Medical Center which made possible comprehensive, low-cost medical care to the residents of Chinatown/North Beach. Diana successfully advocated for the creation of medical and psychiatric social work positions. The other agency, the Youth Service Center (now CYC—Community Youth Center), was formed to address the needs of adolescents. Diana served on the Board of Directors of this agency and also provided training and consultation to the social work staff.

One of Ms. Chan’s greatest accomplishments was her work translating the lessons of direct service to policy. As a lifelong youth and family social worker, Ms. Chan became resolute in her conviction that prevention and early intervention were critical services to helping all students and families become or remain healthy. She saw that this was especially true for immigrant families.

In this respect, Ms. Chan personally began a monumental effort to convince policy makers to increase the number of school social workers in the San Francisco Unified School District. Unlike other states, California is a notorious latecomer to utilizing school social workers and has one of the lowest ratio of school social workers to pupils (one school social worker per 25,000 pupils). Additionally, other pupil support services personnel were underutilized in California schools including school nurses, school counselors and psychologists.

Ms. Chan committed herself to change policy by educating policy makers on the critical need for school social workers and actually increasing funding for school social workers. There is no greater social work than changing policy that results in measurable outcomes at the direct services level.

Her first task was to demonstrate the value and need for school social workers. Her request was politely declined by the San Francisco Unified School District given the dire budget situation. As usual, the threat of laying off school teachers and closing schools held higher priority than increasing pupil support personnel such as school social workers.

Undaunted, Ms. Chan reacted to this in classic professional social work fashion, “I’ll show you how important it is and I’ll give you a way to do it.” Ms. Chan organized. She formed a committee, the Learning Support Services Advocates (LSSA) to find a way to increase school social workers in the district. She teamed with the NASW California Chapter and the NASW Foundation to endow the “Learning Springboard” fund of nearly $1 million to pay for half the salary of two school social workers. Additionally these school social workers would take on social work interns from San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley to provide social work services in the schools.

Fresh from this success, Ms. Chan did not stop. Her LSSA included a school nurse, which led to joint advocacy efforts by social workers and school nurses to increase pupil support services in the schools. She is well known in school support circles in San Francisco for her innovative and effective dumpling diplomacy. She invited top policy officials to her home to share a delicious Chinese dinner and to hear about her passion for school social work. With the nurses, Ms. Chan was able to effectively lobby the Board of Education $1.5 million to hire five school social workers and five school nurses. In the following year, the number was doubled for each profession.

Diana so profoundly touched many social workers on a personal, as well as a professional level, that the Asian Pacific Islander Social Worker Council, in collaboration with the NASW California Chapter and the NASW Foundation, has established a scholarship fund to honor Diana’s memory and support her legacy. If you would like to support Diana’s vision and passion for the social work profession, the Asian Pacific Islander Social Work Council invites you to make a tax-deductible donation to the Diana Ming Chan Scholarship Fund. This scholarship fund will contribute to the education of graduate social work students, especially those with bilingual skills. Checks should be payable to “NASW Foundation—Diana Ming Chan Scholarship” and sent to:
NASW Foundation
Diana Ming Chan Scholarship Fund
750 First Street, NE, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20002-4241

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(1927 - 2008)

James Karls passed away on Sunday, June 29, 2008.

After serving in World War II, Dr. Karls began his outstanding 59 years of social work in public mental health services at the local and state level. He started the first mental health clinics in California’s Central Valley. He was the associate director and then director of the Mental Health Training Center in Southern California, which offered seminars to anyone in the mental health field in the southern half of the state. He followed that as director of Mental Health Research for California. He was a part-time faculty member at UCSB, UCLA, University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco State and USC.

Perhaps Dr. Karls’ greatest contribution to the public appreciation of social work is his development of the “person in the environment” (PIE) assessment system that distinguishes social work from the other mental health professions. Working with Dr. Karin Wandrei, Dr. Karls used the concept underlying social work practice of person-in-environment to develop a system for social workers to record the results of their assessment that addresses the whole person. It helps the practitioner determine recommended courses of action, and to clearly follow the progress of the work. PIE has been translated into many languages, and it has been computerized. It is used as a teaching tool not only in the US but in other countries. PIE provides an alternative to the medical model that has traditionally dominated mental health practice, and encourages social work leadership in social rehabilitation, community resources, and advocacy models.

The NASW Press published Dr. Karls’ books and CDs on PIE, which have been translated into eight languages including French, Spanish, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Greek, and Hebrew. Dr. Karls traveled extensively around the world teaching international social workers about the PIE assessment system.

Dr. Karls was a lifelong NASW member and activist. He chaired several national committees for NASW, including one on case management, and wrote one of the early books on case management. He served as the NASW California Chapter President and the President of the Santa Barbara Mental Health Association. Dr. Karls received numerous social work awards including NASW’s Chapter and Unit Lifetime Achievement awards and the lifetime national recognition award from the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare. He founded the California Hall of Distinction that honors past and present great social workers in California, and he was inducted in 2008. He was also the recipient of the 2008 International Rhoda G. Sarnat Award.

Wherever social work systems theory is discussed, person in environment or PIE frequently comes up. When Dr. Karls’ name comes up, social workers throughout the country and around the world nod their heads in acknowledgement to this great social worker who has significantly advanced professional social work in theory and practice.

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NASW Social Work Pioneer® David M. Austin Dies

1923-2008

Dr. David M. Austin, a pioneer in the field of social work education and a former faculty member at The University of Texas at Austin, died May 29 in Berea, Ky, following his battle with cancer. He was 84.

Austin was among the first social work students supported through the GI Bill following World War II. In 1963, he directed a planning team in Cleveland, which prepared the first comprehensive community-based action proposal funded under President Kennedy’s Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime. The program became known as Community Action for Youth.

In addition to the university, Austin taught social work at Western Reserve University, Smith College, Boston University, Brandeis University, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Boston College, and Rockefeller College, State University of New York at Albany.

Austin joined the university’s School of Social Work in 1973 and held the Bert Kruger Smith Centennial Professorship. During his 24 years at the university, he served as acting dean of the School of Social Work (1991-93) and was director of the school’s Center for Social Work Research from 1974-79. He received numerous teaching awards including UT-Austin’s Lora Lee Pederson Teaching Excellence Award and University Outstanding Graduate Teach ing Award and was honored nationally for his research, particularly in the area of human service management. His scholarship, especially his 1988 book, “The Political Economy of Human Service Programs,” has provided the seminal statement on the distinguishing characteristics of human service organizations.

From 1988 to 1991, Austin served as chairman of the National Institute of Mental Health Task Force on Social Work Research, which produced an extensive report with far-reaching recommendations for changes in the organization of research within the profession of social work.

The report remains one of the most important and long-lasting projects in professional social work, according to Dr. Barbara W. White, dean of the university School of Social Work. It was this initiative, she said, that led the National Institute on Drug Abuse to establish the research grant program that has supported research activities of many faculty in social work programs around the country, among them UT-Austin.

“In his brilliant career, David has left a magnificent legacy in the students whom he mentored, taught and inspired,” said White. “He was a leading scholar in the field of social work and his profound contributions have been recognized through numerous awards.

“It was David’s work, in fact, that led to the strengthening of the doctoral program and research center at the university School of Social Work.”

The National Association of Social Workers named Austin a Social Work Pioneer® in 1997.

He is survived by his wife, Zuria Farmer Austin, and two sons, Clayton Austin and Paul Austin, a daughter, Dr. Judith Austin, and eight grandchildren.

A memorial service to be held on The University of Texas at Austin campus later this summer or early in the fall is being planned.

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August 20, 1914 -May 5, 2008

Mr. Warren Clark Lamson, 93, of Solomons Island, MD died May 5, 2008 at his residence in Solomons, MD. He was born in Neligh, Nebraska, August 20, 1914 to the late John Wesley and Laura Alice Lamson. Mr. Lamson graduated from Wayne State College with a Bachelors Degree in Education in 1938, and from the University Of Nebraska Graduate School Of Social Work in 1942 with a Masters Degree in Social Work. He taught in the public schools of Nebraska for several years prior to attending graduate school.

Mr. Lamson was a World War II veteran and served from 1942-1946, in the Adjutant Generals Department of the Army as a First Lieutenant. He specialized in clinical psychology and psychiatric social work during this time. After discharge from the Army, he was employed as a Chief, Social Work Branch, Denver Regional Office of the Veterans Administration from 1946-1949. In 1949, he became a Mental Health Consultant in the United States Public Health Service Regional Office in Dallas, Texas. In 1950, he became the Chief Psychiatric Social Worker in the Community Services Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health, in Bethesda, MD. He served in several other administrative and consultative capacities in the Agency before retiring in 1974 as Chief of the Continuing Education Branch. After retirement he was employed as Chief Social Worker in the Maryland State Department of Mental Hygiene. He retired from this position in 1978.

Mr. Lamson was active at the national level in several social work organizations. He was charter member of the National Association of Social Workers and served on several commissions and committees of that organization and the Council on Social Work Education. He was a charter member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers and was a Licensed Certified Social Worker in Maryland. In 1974, he was honored by the University of Nebraska as an outstanding alumnus. In 1994, he was honored as a pioneer in social work by the National Association of Social Work. Mr. Lamson had numerous articles in mental health published in professional publications.

Mr. Lamson was a lifelong member of the United Methodist Church, and a member of DeWitt Lodge #111 AF&AM, DeWitt, Nebraska.

He is survived by his loving wife Julia L. “Judy” Lamson, three children, Gary W. and his wife Joan Lamson of Warren, NJ, Larry D. and his wife Francine Lamson of St. Leonard, MD and Gayle L. and her husband Richard Lloyd of St. Leonard, MD, and six grandchildren Brandon, Shawn, Justin, Jeffrey, Marshall and Kristin.

Click here for Memorial Service information

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Grace L. Hewell, 89, a retired social worker and federal education specialist, died March 7 of congestive heart failure at Providence Hospital in the District. She was a resident of the District and Chattanooga, Tenn.

Dr. Hewell was born in Chattanooga and graduated from Spelman College in 1940. After receiving a master’s degree in social work from Atlanta University in 1943, she enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps and became a second lieutenant while serving in Germany. From 1945 to 1950, she was a service club director with the U.S. armed forces in Europe.

She received a master’s degree in 1952, a master’s degree in public health in 1954 and a doctorate in education in 1958, all from Columbia University.

She worked as a social worker with the St. Louis Housing Authority in the early 1950s and then became a public health educator with the New York City Department of Health.

She moved to Washington in 1960 to work as a program coordination officer at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (now Health and Human Services). She was assigned to the office of the assistant secretary for legislation.

During the first session of the 89th Congress in 1965, she was appointed education chief for the House Committee on Education and Labor, chaired by Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (D-N.Y.), who had been her pastor at Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City.

The 89th Congress was labeled “the education Congress” because of the passage of 15 education bills. However, a conference committee reached an impasse on provisions of the Higher Education Act of 1965 that would expand continuing education programs and would provide greater opportunities for historically black colleges to compete for federal funds.

Dr. Hewell helped Powell break the impasse and in the process forced the federal government to begin closing the gap between white and black education in the United States.

Wil Haygood, Powell’s biographer, described in a 1993 Boston Globe article how the New York congressman used his power and knowledge of the rules to make it more difficult for Southern House members to mass against the bill before it reached the House floor. Haygood, now with The Washington Post, quoted Dr. Hewell as saying: “It was the hardest job I ever had. Two or 3 o’clock in the morning I was on the floor of the House.”

Powell and President Lyndon B. Johnson considered the comprehensive education bill a magnificent achievement. So did Dr. Hewell.

She was an adult education program officer in the Office of Education for the New York region from 1967 to 1978 and later a consultant on educational telecommunications for the Department of Education.

She was a commission member for UNESCO’s Fourth International Conference on Adult Education from 1975 to 1980.

Dr. Hewell served on the executive board of Delta Sigma Theta sorority and was a life member of the National Council of Negro Women. When she retired from government service, she established a second residence in Chattanooga and helped then-Sen. Al Gore clean up a creek that had been described as “the most polluted and contaminated” in the South.

There are no immediate survivors.
Source: Joe Holley, Washington Post, Thursday, April 10, 2008; Page B07

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NASW Pioneer Esther Glasser died Saturday, February 2, 2008 in Arlington, VA

Click here for her NASW Pioneer Biography
Click here for her husband Mel Glasser’s NASW Pioneer Biography

GLASSER Esther K. Glasser (Age 91) On Saturday, February 2, 2008, Esther K. Glasser, of Arlington, VA. Mother of Stephen A. (Lynn) Glasser, Amy H. (Lawrence) Corey and Robin (Frank) Hudson. She is also survived by eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren. A Memorial Service will be held at the Arlington Funeral Home, 3901 N. Fairfax Dr., Arlington, VA on Monday, February 4, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to: Glasser Family Scholarship Fund, in honor of Esther and Melvin Glasser, Bloomfield College, Bloomfield, NJ 07003 or the National Association of Social Workers Foundation, Suite 700, 750 First ST. NE., Washington, DC, 20002, website: www.naswfoundation.org

Published in The Washington Post on 2/2/2008.

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NASW Past Board Member Joan K. Parry died January 9th, 2008 in La Jolla, CA
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Dr. Joan K. Parry Dies at 79 in her La Jolla Home. Joan K. Parry, DSW, ACSW, LCSW, passed away the morning of January 9th in her own La Jolla home where she had expressly wished to die. She died of lung and liver cancer. A Native New Yorker, she had been a resident of the San Diego area for the past twenty-five years. She received her bachelors from Columbia University, her MSW from Adelphi and her DSW from Yeshiva University, all in New York. Dr. Parry had over thirty-five years of experience as a social work practitioner and teacher. Her areas of expertise were in death and dying, group and psychiatric social work. She was Professor Emeritus from the San Jose State University School of Social Work, and served on the five-member National Task Force of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) to write continuing education standards for 100,000 professional social workers. She was active for over two decades in AASWG (Association for the Advancement of Social Work in Groups) and was the co-founder of the San Diego Chapter in 1993. She held numerous other positions with AASWG and NASW (National Association of Social Work) in both the New York and California state chapters, including being on the Executive Board of NASW from 1998-2002, and President of the AASWG San Diego Chapter from 1993-1997. She was also a member of the Council on Social Work Education. She received many awards and honors over the years, including most recently Social Worker of the Year in 2005 and a Lifetime achievement Award by AASWG in August of 2007. Dr. Parry was the author of numerous articles, chapters, and books, including the first edition of Social Work Practice with the Terminally Ill (1989) and A Cross-Cultural Look at Death, Dying, and Religion (1995). Dr. Parry worked as a psychiatric social worker at a mental health clinic, as a Family Service Supervisor in Freeport, New York, and as Director of Social Work at the Community Hospital in Glen Cove, New York. She taught at the Hunter College School of Social Work from 1980 to 1984, and the San Jose State University College of Social Work from 1985 to 1993. She then retired from teaching and remained in the San Diego area as an LCSW Consultant and volunteer until her passing. She also recently published a novel A Hand to Hold. Joan was married to John Parry for nearly fifty years until his passing in 2000, and is survived by her three children, Linda Paricio of Walnut Creek, CA, Glenn Aparicio Parry of Albuquerque, NM and Neil Parry of Rochester, NY, her brother Pete Kaufman, and grandchildren Jody Goldman, Dana Goldman, Bryan, Matt and Evan Parry. Funeral services will be held at Dor Hadash synagogue at 4858 Ronson Ct in San Diego on Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 3pm and the family will welcome friends and relatives to sit shivah at 8850 Villa La Jolla Dr #215 on Sunday evening following the funeral and Monday from 10am-4pm. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to AASWG Inc. (2303 Winfield St, Rahway, NJ 07065). 

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NASW Social Work Pioneer Betty Broadhurst died Monday, December 31^st , 2007 in Fort Collins, Colorado
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Dr. Betty P. Broadhurst, 88, a Denver, Colorado native passed away peacefully December 31, 2007. Dr. Broadhurst practiced social work and was an educator for over 50 years. Her higher education began at Colorado College, graduating in1940. She then received her MS in Psychiatric Social Work from Smith College in 1942, and was a caseworker in one of the first child guidance clinics in the country. Betty served as an officer in the Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Coast Guard from 1943-1946. Later, she wrote a collection of writings about her Coast Guard assignments and about different WWII social work experiences published by the Columbia University Press. After WWII, Dr. Broadhurst held several positions in clinical social work with the Veterans Administration, Yale Medical Center, Jewish Family and Children’s Service in Denver. Due to her extensive involvement in international social work, Betty received a Fulbright Fellowship in 1953. For two years she was an instructor and consultant at the University of Vienna School of Social Work. Dr. Broadhurst’s teaching positions included the University of Denver, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Colorado State University. She received her DSW from Columbia University in 1964. Dr. Broadhurst was a Professor Emeritus in the Social Work Department at Colorado State University. Throughout her teaching career Betty has maintained and developed international social work opportunities and learning experiences for her students and exchange scholars. This led to her extensive involvement with the Experiment in International Living. Leading groups to Europe and organizing the Experiment in Denver, making this one of her most unique accomplishments. Dr. Broadhurst led tours to Cuba, Mexico, and other Central and South American countries, as well as lecturing on subjects such as the accomplishments of East Indian women, mass communication, and social change. Betty was an avid traveler her entire adult life, photographing most of her adventures. She won awards for her photographs of native life, human interest, nature and countryside. Betty is survived by her sister (Sue) Mrs. Douw Fonda, 5 nieces and 1 nephew, and 14 grand nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Colorado College- Attn: Development Office of Colorado College, P.O. Box 1117, Colorado Springs Co. 80901-9897, or charity of your choice. A celebration of Betty’s life will be held on Wednesday, January 9 @11:00 a.m. at the Fort Collins Senior Center with a reception to follow. A private family service will be held in Denver, date pending.

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