Store Events - May 21, 7:30 p.m.


Time: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 7:30 p.m.
Location: the store
Title of Event: Betty Roberts presents With Grit and By Grace
With Grit and By Grace follows Betty Roberts’ rise from a Depression-era childhood on the Texas plains to become a teacher, lawyer, state legislator, candidate for governor, and eventually Oregon’s first woman Supreme Court Justice. In this memoir, Justice Roberts reflects on her role as a mother, wife, and political trailblazer. Her story is important to the history of women’s struggles to challenge prevailing stereotypes, but it is also a deeply personal story of a life sometimes stark, sometimes humorous, often exhausting, and always brightened with friendships and family.

Justice Roberts began her career during a politically complex time—the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing, sentiment against the Vietnam War was growing, and the nascent women’s movement would soon burst on the scene. During her 13 years as a legislator, she was instrumental in the passage of Oregon’s first legalized right to abortion and the state’s ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, as well as pathbreaking environmental and land-use legislation.

After her retirement from the Oregon Supreme Court in 1986, Betty Roberts began a new career in mediation and arbitration. She made international headlines in March 2004 when she performed the state's first same-sex marriage ceremonies in Multnomah County.