Story and photo by Betty Medsger

Congratulations to Betsy Wade, a journalism hero.

This JAWS pioneer was given a lifetime achievement award on Nov. 16 by the Society of the Silurians, an organization of veteran journalists in New York. Many JAWS members were present to honor her.

What a life of service to the profession Betsy has led. Her achievements have benefited journalists throughout the country by leading the way in making it possible for women to be hired in greater numbers in the nation’s newsrooms. In 1974, she was the lead plaintiff in a class action suit filed by women at The New York Times, where she had been hired in 1956 as the paper’s first woman copy editor in the paper’s 105-year history.