Giving Back: Margaret “Betty” Everett ’42

Giving Back: Margaret “Betty” Everett ’42
Friends Select School
Giving Back: Margaret “Betty” Everett ’42

Full Select News
Giving Back: Margaret “Betty” Everett ’42

As a long-time donor to Friends Select School, Margaret “Betty” Everett ’42 has made contributions to her alma mater for over 30 years. In addition to her membership in the school’s Price Wetzel Planned 
Giving Society, Betty is an avid supporter of Friends Select’s financial aid program. “I received tuition 
assistance for my four years of upper school. Friends Select helped me so much that, through my gifts, I want to repay the school as much as I can,” Betty said. “Receiving 
financial aid enabled me to attend Friends Select and, ultimately, it did 
me so much good that I want other
students to have that experience.”

A lifelong athlete whose love of sports blossomed at Friends Select, Betty had a celebrated career in physical education administration as the chair of the women’s physical education department at the University of Northern Colorado. Betty—an avid golfer and field hockey player who knows, firsthand, the benefits of organized sports—was a Title IX advocate and worked to ensure gender discrimination was not a barrier for women who wanted to participate in the university’s sports. In 2003, she was inducted into the university’s Athletic Hall of Fame for her work in promoting athletics for women. “My experience participating in athletics at Friends Select was a motivator for helping other women have the same opportunity,” she said.

Betty started at Friends Select in seventh grade and was a high-performance student who excelled in all subjects, especially math and science. Her love of sports started at a young age, and she showed promise as a Friends Select athlete in her middle school years. As she was approaching her ninth grade year, however, tuition costs became an issue for her family. “My folks decided that they couldn’t afford to send me to Friends Select,” Betty said. “I attended Girls High for one day; I was so unhappy because it wasn’t anything like Friends Select. Luckily, that very day, my physical education teacher, Emily Deubler, called my family and offered me a scholarship.”

Through her four remaining years at Friends Select, Betty was not only an outstanding student, but she was also a leader in the athletic program as a member of the field hockey, tennis, basketball, and softball teams and the recipient of the girls’ athletic award in her graduating year. She said, “Although girls weren’t typically encouraged to participate in interscholastic activities at the time, Quaker schools were some of the only schools that allowed girls to become involved in sports.” 

Betty acknowledged that her role in Friends Select athletics was unique compared with the high school experiences of her collegiate peers. “When I went to the University of Wisconsin as a physical education major, they frowned upon girls participating in interscholastic sports; that was quite a change for me,” she said. “I almost had to be quiet about the fact that I had participated in athletics! But, because of my experience at Friends Select, I already had an athletic advantage once women were able to participate in sports.”

Betty’s experience at Friends Select also put her at an advantage academically. “When I went to the University of Wisconsin, I tested out of the first semester of physics thanks to what I learned at Friends Select,” she said. “It was certainly a college preparatory experience.” After graduation from college, Betty continued her studies in graduate school, received her doctoral degree, and pursued a successful career in physical education administration. When Betty reflects on her career choice, she partially credits her Friends Select physical education teacher, Emily Deubler. “I don’t know why she picked me to come back when I left before ninth grade,” she said. “But that started me on my career path.”