Archives West Finding Aid

Betty Penson-Ward (May 15, 1914 - Sept. 5, 2002) was a third-generation Idahoan born to H.B. Butler and Maybelle Tingley Butler. She grew up in south Boise and attended St. Teresa's Academy, Garfield Grade School, and graduated from Boise High School. Betty married three times in her life: Clyde Matthews, George H. Penson who died in 1946, and Judge Theron W. Ward who died in 1988.

She started her career in journalism when she landed a position proofreading for the Boise Capital News and also served as church editor, weather editor, society editor, and editor of country correspondence. In 1937 she moved over to the Idaho Statesman as a police and courts reporter. After two years working she moved into the women's department (later renamed the Arts of Living and Features department) where she stayed for 25 years.

Besides her journalist career, Penson wrote "Idaho Women in History." This book includes over 500 biographies about Idaho women. Wanting to save Idaho women from falling into obscurity, Penson contacted family members, friends, and colleagues, and searched through books, archives, and personal letters to find the details of these women's lives. She tells the stories of freed slaves, Chinese immigrants, Native American women, and Boise socialites who made their lives in Idaho. Not meant to be a comprehensive history of women in Idaho, Penson gave just enough information on the women to hopefully pique the interest of another party who could take her work even further. Penson was quoted, "The reason I did this book is because I had to do it. Nobody else had all this information, and it had never been compiled. It had to be compiled before it gets away."

Penson was the first woman inducted into Boise High School's Hall of Fame and she won the National Federation of Press Women's national sweepstakes award in 1971.

Penson died in 2002, leaving behind a son, Kelly Matthews, a daughter, Mali Krivor, and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.