KANSAS CITY, MO - The Missouri Democratic Party is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former First Lady Betty Cooper Hearnes, a devoted public servant and Democratic Party leader. She was her husband’s, Warren E. Hearnes, political partner, and sound advisor through his two terms as Missouri’s 46th Governor from 1965 to 1973. She married Hearnes, a recent West Point graduate, on July 2, 1948, while he was on leave from the United States Army. 

In a 1979 special election, she was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives from Charleston and was re-elected four times. In 1987, she was elected chair of the Missouri Democratic Party. In 1988, she was the Democratic nominee for Governor following an overwhelming victory in the Democratic primary. 

Jean Carnahan, former Missouri First Lady and Senator said the following, "There's no First Lady of Missouri that I admired more than Betty Hearnes," said Carnahan. "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." 

According to the Southeast Missourian Newspaper, Mrs. Hearnes was the first woman to be appointed to the Missouri Baptist Convention, named along with “Mrs. George Hammond of Festus, Missouri, according to newspaper archives. 

Former Missouri State Representative, Gracia Backer, who was a personal friend of Mrs. Hearnes said, “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 was the first woman elected Majority Floor Leader in Missouri, said she learned a great deal from Mrs. Hearnes, “She was my mentor and my leader.”