Betty Cooper Hearnes, a former Democratic candidate for governor and first lady of Missouri, passed away at the age of ninety-six.
Hearnes, who was unsuccessful in her 1988 attempt to become the first female governor of the state, passed away on Thursday at her Charleston, Missouri, home in Mississippi County in southeast Missouri, surrounded by her family.
Her husband, Democrat Warren Hearnes, who was governor of Missouri from 1965 to 1973, passed away before her. 2009 saw the passing of the previous governor.
In 1987, Betty Hearnes—who also held numerous terms in the Missouri House—told the Post-Dispatch that she was thinking about running for governor. She ultimately decided to take on Republican Governor John Ashcroft.
Asked if she had discussed the race with her husband, Hearnes replied, “Not much. Ultimately, the decision is in your own hands, as it was when he did it. He is not discouraging me or encouraging me.”
“Her do-it-all, have fun, and never-give-up attitude served her well throughout her extraordinary life of service to her community and state,” Carnahan said.
The Southeast Missourian newspaper said on Friday that Betty Hearnes, a former high school music teacher who sang the National Anthem at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968, also held the position of chairwoman of the Missouri Democratic State Committee.
In a news release sent on Friday by the state Democratic Party, former U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan—who is also a widow of a Missouri governor—said she loved no first lady in Missouri more than Hearnes.
Carnahan stated, “Her do-it-all, have fun, and never-give-up attitude served her well throughout her extraordinary life of service to her community and state.”
Hearnes’s close friend and former state representative Gracia Backer stated, “Betty Hearnes was the epitome of a public servant. As first lady, as a state representative from Mississippi County, or a private citizen, Betty never stopped serving the people of this state.” Backer called Hearnes “my mentor and my leader.”
According to the Southeast Missourian, Hearnes will be privately entombed in Charleston. She leaves behind two daughters and grandchildren.