Betty Neale

Betty Irene Neale (; May 20, 1927 – October 12, 2018) was an American lobbyist and state legislator in Colorado. She served in the Colorado House of Representatives as a Republican from 1975-1992. She became the first woman Speaker Pro Tempore of the Colorado House of Representatives during the 1991-1992 term and the first woman chair of the Business Affairs and Labor Committee in 1987.

Early life and education Overfield was born May 20, 1927, in Hiawatha, Kansas to Ira and Nellie Overfield. She graduated from Hiawatha High School in 1945, then attended a business college before studying at the University of Kansas.

Career Neale briefly worked as an accountant at Southwestern Bell Telephone Company before her family moved to Denver, Colorado in 1958.

Neale became a precinct committeewoman in 1965, then served as a delegate to the Colorado Republican Assembly the following year. In 1969, she became a district captain. Three years later, she served as an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention. During her tenure, she received multiple accolades. In 1977, she became the first woman to serve on the state's Joint Budget Committee. She did not run for re-election in 1992. The couple divorced circa 1971.

Neale died October 12, 2018.