Betty Campbell Graham

Betty Campbell Graham, the first woman elected prolocutor of General Synod, died Feb. 10 in Toronto at the age of 84.

Born in Toronto, Ms. Graham studied at the University of Toronto and received an M.S.W. degree from the University of Southern California.

She pursued two interests – child welfare and the church – eventually rising in 1966 to the post of director of child welfare for the government of Ontario.

She was chosen as a delegate to General Synod in 1965 and elected the first woman deputy prolocutor in 1969. The prolocutor is an officer of General Synod and may chair meetings in the absence of the primate.

Shortly thereafter, Ms. Graham found herself in the office of prolocutor when her predecessor, Dean Roy Gartrell, was elected to the episcopacy. She presided over the election at the 1971 meeting of General Synod that elected Archbishop Edward Scott as primate.

In the 1970s, Ms. Graham served on the Anglican Consultative Council and attended the fifth assembly of the World Council of Churches in Nairobi.

Her funeral was held Feb. 16 in Toronto.