Elizabeth Jane Allen, known best as “Betty”, will be honored this week for the wonderful woman she was and the lasting impact she has made on the cystic fibrosis community, reports The Inquirer Daily News. At the end of January, Betty passed away at the age of 85 due to influenza complications in Wyndmoor’s Keystone Hospice. She had been fighting Parkinson’s disease for the last two decades. While this is sad news to receive, The Inquirer took time to reflect back on her amazing journey and accomplishments she acquired along the way.
Betty was a PR and development specialist who is known for setting the foundation for the nation’s Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, which was established in 1955. She was a successful PR, development and HR specialist for some time, which all rooted from being an artist. She used to do graphic design for local publications and created art boards on the regular. Her daughter shared that when she was a child, she remembers tissue paper and art boards flooding the house.
Betty found huge success while working for the Academy of Natural Sciences, having garnered $10 million during her capital campaign while being the chief development officer and director of public affairs. The money was used to build an amazing new research facility.
While she continued her career working other medical jobs, it wasn’t until she was retired that her fight for cystic fibrosis awareness came about. It all started when her and her husband could hear their neighbor constantly coughing. They quickly learned of her CF condition and asked how they could help. Next thing you know, the Allens fully immersed themselves in the CF community with full intent to raise money and awareness to children with the disease.
Once they learned that most CF children at that point in time didn’t get to outlive their youth, they knew something significant had to be done. With parents of CF patients, they founded the national Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and to this day it has grown massively and made a big impact on the community. They are proud to say that the progress and efforts made by the foundation have helped extend the life-expectancy of those with the disease.
Betty’s gentle soul and vibrant compassion for others will always be remembered by those that knew her and the CF lives that have been made better from her resilience.
