BETTIE J. ALLEN

Dec. 21, 1926 – Feb. 25, 2015

Bettie was the first full-time director of the Springfield Human Relations Commission, and later was with the Capital Development Board for the State of Illinois until her retirement.

Bettie helped enforce civil rights in housing, hiring and education. She worked with the People’s Bank, the first financial institution on the east side of Springfield. In one of her programs, she helped single moms on welfare understand banking and take control of their financial future. She was a president of the NAACP and a recipient of the Webster Plaque. Her mission-driven attitude led her across the country to work on civil rights issues. It led her to the South to register black voters and to help explain employee rights.

As a YWCA national volunteer, she traveled to Kenya to train young Africans to run YWCA hostels. During her lifetime, her travels took her to several African and European countries, as well as China and Russia.

Bettie was recognized in 2007 as one of 12 women who “skirted convention.” She enjoyed sharing her resources with many nonprofit groups that helped children, the poor and the disabled.

Barbara Dickerman, friend