On May 16, 2009, Bethine Church was awarded an honorary doctorate degree during the commencement ceremony at Boise State University.  Mrs. Church was the seventh person to receive an honorary doctorate from Boise State. View the transcript of Mrs. Church's speech. These photos represent some of the many accomplishments in her public and personal life.

Jean Bethine Clark was born on February 19, 1923, to Jean Burnett Clark and Chase Addison Clark in Mackay, Idaho. Bethine grew up in a politically active family; her father and her uncle both served as Idaho governors. As a high school student in Idaho Falls, Bethine was active in debate and student government, which continued after the Clark family moved to Boise when her father was elected governor. Bethine graduated from Boise High School in 1941 and in the fall enrolled at Boise Junior College, where she was elected freshman class vice president. As a sophomore, she enrolled at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, her father’s alma mater. She graduated with a B.A. in Sociology in 1945. Pictured here is Bethine’s yearbook photograph from Boise Junior College in 1942.

Bethine befriended a young man named Frank Church during her school year at Boise High, and they stayed in touch after graduation. When Frank Church joined the Army and went overseas during World War II, they kept in touch via letters. Frank became an intelligence officer and was stationed in China, Burma, and India. After returning from abroad, Frank proposed to Bethine and they announced their engagement in December 1946. Pictured here are Bethine and Frank Church on their wedding day at Robinson Bar Ranch, the Clark family ranch in the Sawtooth Mountains, on June 21, 1947.

Frank Church ran on the Democratic ticket for U.S. Senate in 1956 and won by defeating incumbent Senator Herman Welker. The Church family moved to Washington, D.C., in 1957. Here the Church family (Frank, Forrest, Bethine, and Chase) pose with the Washington Monument in the background, ca. 1959.

Bethine Church was active on the campaign trail in every one of Frank Church’s elections. In this photograph, Frank and Bethine Church campaign for his reelection to the U.S. Senate in Orofino in 1961.

During her years in Washington, D.C., Bethine Church met many national and international political leaders, as well as famous cultural icons. In this photograph, the Church family (Forrest, Bethine, Chase, and Frank) meet with President Lyndon B. Johnson at a reception at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho on August 26, 1966.

Bethine Church traveled extensively with her husband throughout his career as a U.S. Senator. Their trips included places throughout the United States as well as the world. Among the countries she visited were South Vietnam, China, Japan, Israel, Morocco, Egypt, Argentina, Cuba, Spain, Zimbabwe, and the Congo. In this photograph, Bethine and Frank Church are shown with officials in the Basque Country in 1978.

Frank Church entered the Democratic primaries for President in 1976, but lost the nomination to Jimmy Carter. Pictured here are Bethine and Frank Church waving to the crowd after he announced his campaign for the presidency in Idaho City in March 1976.  Recalling that day, Bethine wrote in her autobiography, “I had always been proud of Frank, but that day was one to bust my buttons.”

After 24 years in the U.S. Senate, Frank Church was defeated for reelection in 1980. “In retrospect, losing was a blessing,” Bethine wrote many years later, “because…we were able to spend our last few years together without the busyness of Senate life.” In 1983, Frank Church once again was diagnosed with cancer, but this time the disease prevailed. He died in April 1984. Bethine Church did not retire from public life, however. Among her many projects has been the Frank Church Institute at Boise State University. The institute hosts annual public policy conferences and funds the Frank and Bethine Church Chair of Public Affairs at Boise State University. Pictured here is Bethine Church at Boise State University in 1988 as she delivers opening remarks at the Frank Church Conference on Public Affairs.

Bethine Church continues to be active in Democratic Party politics. She is known as the “Matriarch of the Idaho Democratic Party” and has served as a delegate to every Democratic National Convention since 1994. Pictured here are Tipper Gore (left) and First Lady Hillary Clinton (right) with Bethine during a luncheon at the White House on May 25, 1994.

Bethine Church was the moving force in founding the Sawtooth Society, which supports the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, in 1997. She is pictured here with co-founders former Congressman Orval Hansen (left) and former Senator Jim McClure (center) in the Sawtooth Mountains.