On graduating from high school in Gagetown, Betty Lacey went on to teacher training in what was then the Provincial Normal School in Fredericton (changing to the New Brunswick Teachers’ College in 1947). In 1943, when Betty began teaching in the community of Juniper, she joined the New Brunswick Women’s Institute (WI).
Married in 1946, Betty moved to Queenstown where she raised three children in the 1950s. It was not until the 1960s that her serious involvement in the Women’s Institute began. Gradually, through years of dedicated service, Betty worked up to earn the WI presidency for the term 1990–1993, then served for three years as Past President at the same time as chairing the Finance Committee.
As the New Brunswick representative on the Board of the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada (FWIC), Betty attended meetings across Canada twice a year; and in this national role, attended two world conferences, developing links with the Associated Country Women of the World (ACWW). While these were commitments that took Betty away from her home, she counted herself fortunate to have had a supportive husband and children.
Although her primary areas of volunteer leadership were focused on the WI, Betty is also well-known for her decades of work in the administration of the Queenstown Anglican church, the United Church youth group, Canadian Girls In Training, and the Canadian 4-H Council.