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Voice for the West Valley
Betty Lynch rises from tragedy to serve the community
BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI
Betty Lynch is considered a “voice for the West Valley.”
The former Avondale city councilwoman and vice mayor hasn’t let anyone stop her legacy of improving lives around the Valley.
“I brought sensitivity, compassion and love for people and understanding of people and their needs,” Lynch recalls about her time with the city. “I was able to give them a great deal.”
Lynch, who moved to Arizona in 1997, continues to give. She supports the fight against domestic violence, serving on the financial committee for A New Leaf. The effervescent Lynch is active at her home, La Loma Village in Litchfield Park.
The pandemic has brought a change to her work. She spends her days partaking in Zoom meetings and teleconferences.
“Because of my background, people were saying I should run for City Council in Litchfield Park,” she says. “I’m a Sun Health person. I wouldn’t be able to represent Sun Health if I did that. Representing Sun Health is very, very important to me. I want to be able to continue to do that. I can’t do that if I’m on something like Planning and Zoning or City Council.”
La Loma Village is a Sun Health Community. In terms of her residence, Lynch is supporting the construction of a 20,000-square-foot community center there. It’s been approved by the design review committee and waiting for planning and zoning to take it up.
She said Luke Air Force Base—another organization Lynch vehemently supports—is excited about the center.
“They’ll be able to use this center for parties and meetings,” says Lynch, who was on the Luke Advisory Committee for eight years. “I just loved being there so much. It was an exceptional opportunity for me and I’m still in touch with them.”
Tragedy
Lynch has faced her fair share of tragedies. She lost her daughter, Cynthia, in 2005 to complications from Crohn’s Disease and her husband a year later.
“He chose to take his life in 2006,” Lynch says. “That’s how I heal, by saying it that way.
“I have grown so much from all of the 12 | JULY 2020
ber sitting in her lap and talking with her, but I don’t remember a lot. My dad just had an incredible love of people. He never wanted anything for himself. He just always wanted things for my mother and the three of us.” She and her husband adopted their “beautiful” daughter when she was 12 weeks old. She was born in a Long Island hospital, where her mother was born on her grandfather’s birthday. “I get goose pimples just talking about it,” she says. “She was a spitting Betty Lynch, who lives in La Loma Village in Litchfield Park, has been frequently honored throughout her life, but nothing touched her more than the Bishop image of me. One man in a cheese Curtis Legacy Award from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, her alma mater. (LLAF photos by Chris Mortenson) store said you could never deny that things that have happened in my life,” child—a few weeks after we adopted she says. “I do a lot of domestic violence her. One day, she said to me, ‘I don’t think work for that reason. I’m a survivor. If I I’ll make 40. She made 39 and a half. She can help just one woman at any point, had a nomination to the Naval Academy, that’s what I want to and she had almost do.” perfect SATs. She was
Lynch believes she the joy of my life.” inherited her need To better her life, to give back from Lynch attended colher father, Fred Stelege in her mid-30s vens. She grew up to increase her tech“very, very poor” on nical knowledge a farm and didn’t about being a bank know until she was teller, her occupation older that her father at the time. She was was a “great giver.” To the first in her family make extra money, to attend college. he drove a milk truck “After I got my first and supplied peodegree, my underple with things they grad, I went to work needed. for a major bank and
“One time, when the present there I was 4 years old, he had to deliver apsaid, ‘I’ve never seen anyone your age ples to a lady whom I didn’t know,” she come out with straight As.’ A few years recalls. later, I went back and got my master’s
“I sat in her lap while he delivered his and that was also in finance and I stayed apples. It was Helen Keller. I just rememin banking.”
At home, she sits on the Committee for Lifelong Learning and Understanding (LLU) where she resides. She also is the chairwoman of its scholarship committee that awards scholarships for the staff because residents cannot tip staff. Residents annually raise the dollars to fund the scholarships to various programs and universities.
Great accomplishment
Lynch calls her greatest accomplishment winning the Bishop Curtis Legacy Award from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.She graduated Summa Cum Laude from the university with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and a minor in business administration.
She also earned an MBA with a major in finance and a minor in controllership, Summa Cum Laude, and again with an MBA in finance and a minor in controllership.
Both degrees were dual majors earned in three years while working full time and raising her young daughter.
“The award blew me away because this is the first award,” says Lynch, the former Peoria Chamber of Commerce executive director. “I admire Bishop Curtis and all the community work he did. I read about him before I ever went to school there. The president, the alumni association and the board of trustees felt I most emulated what he did in his life.”
She’s also proud of her time as the Peoria Chamber of Commerce executive director.
“One of the first things I had to do was sit on the committee that was going to build the Challenger Center,” she says. “I felt my life had come full circle. It’s the only free-standing Challenger Center in the nation, as far as I know.”
Her lifetime motto is one of simplicity and significance: “Give to the world the best you can, and the world will give back to you.”
“I’m proud of the work I’ve done and very grateful,” says Lynch, who received the 2016 Glendale Ethics in Action Award. “I still have people in Avondale who call me for things. I’ve spoken at a couple City Council meetings. Being so respected in doing those things is a great honor for me.” www.LovinLife.com
