Betty Thompson

Betty Thompson was born in 1934 in Walkerton, Ontario. She began work at CKCO-TV in 1956 after graduating from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute’s radio and television course. She became widely known to viewers as Miss Betty of “Romper Room” a children’s television program which she hosted from 1972 to 1975. After that, she hosted a number of magazine-style shows such as “Ladies First” and “Betty and Friends”. In 1992, Betty was appointed community relations co-ordinator at CKCO-TV.

In 1990 she was special events chairperson for the Ontario Summer Games, helping with fund raising for the games. In 1992 she was chosen the 35th Kitchener-Waterloo Citizen of the Year by the KW Junior Chamber of Commerce. She was active in the Big Sisters of KW and area, Best Friends of Big Sisters and spear-headed the opening of Stuffy’s second-hand children’s wear shop. She was also involved with many organizations including the John Howard Society, the United Way, Parents Are People Too, KW Oktoberfest and Flowers Canada.

In 1992 Thompson was honorary chairperson of the KW Cancer Society’s fund raising campaign and at the Betty Thompson Golf Classic raised funds for the KW Hospital Foundation to help start a training program to educate women about breast cancer.