BETTY Jane (Buckett) CUDDY, "Betti"

• Education
• Philanthropy
• Arts
Inducted: 2011
Deceased: 2010
BETTY Jane (Buckett) CUDDY, "Betti"
An adventurous Betty Jane Puckett (she later became known as Betti) left her home in a small Nebraska town in the early 1940s, met and married her life-long partner Dan Cuddy in Seattle, then spent her honeymoon driving the new Alaska Highway north. Her community leadership began when she volunteered as a Girl Scout leader in Anchorage. She held a seat on the organizational committee for Alaska Methodist University, now Alaska Pacific University. In the 1960s, she organized the Treasures of Sight and Sound (TOSS), the predecessor to the Community Schools Program. Through TOSS, Anchorage children received instruction in gymnastics, music, singing, and many other theater activities. The Greater Anchorage Chamber of Commerce awarded a Gold Pan Award to TOSS in recognition of Betti’s work.
Betti Cuddy sat on the State Board of Education in the late 1970s and served as a board member of the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts and that group’s Symphony Committee. She served as secretary/treasurer of the Anchorage Women’s Club and helped form that organization’s FREE committee, a women’s only political advocacy effort in the 1970s. Betti was named honorary chairwoman of the YWCA Anchorage Academy of Woman Achievers. She played a major role in the renovation of the Lucy Cuddy Center on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus and helped develop a renewed focus for the culinary arts and hospitality programs. In her most recent years, Betti was a supporter of the Cuddy Family Midtown Park near the Loussac Library in Anchorage. When completed, the park will include a covered stage and seating area for outdoor theatrical venues.
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