OGDEN Utah civil rights leader Bettye Gillespie died at age 92 on July 2 in her Ogden home after a long illness, her family announced on Thursday.
Gillespie was the first African American to be appointed to the University of Utah board of trustees and was among the highest-ranked Black civilian employees at Hill Air Force Base, where she worked for over 40 years as the only Equal Employment Opportunity director at Hill Air Force Base and the only female EEO officer in the Air Force Logistics Command, according to her family.
Gillespsie and her husband, James Gillespie, belonged to the NAACP and served the organization on multiple levels. James Gillespie served as the president of the NAACP Ogden branch alongside Bettye Gillespie who served as the youth director of the branch. The couple worked to overcome racial, economic and gender stereotypes throughout their lifetime, the family said.
Utah
United-states
Hill-air-force-base
Ogden-high-school
University-of-utah
Washington
American
Shauna-gillespie-ford
Bettye-gillespie
Deon-gillespie
James-gillespie
Minority-bar-association-community-service-award