Mercedes Bates, Oregon State - Chi, Woman of the Year 1970

Mercedes Bates, Oregon State - Chi, Woman of the Year 1970

Baking cookies, cakes and pies are but a small part of the woman known as "Betty Crocker." Mercedes Bates, Delta Zeta Woman of the Year 1970, was so identified as she became director of the Betty Crocker kitchens at General Mills in Minneapolis. Later, she was named vice president of the company, the first woman to have that distinction. The dean of the college of home economics at Oregon State University, from which she graduated in 1936, said of her, "Mercedes Bates made sure that the food industry recognized the strength and values of families. Betty Crocker became synonymous with those values." During the height of the consumerism movement, she served on the consumer affairs committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and was founding chairman of the consumer affairs committee of the Grocery Manufacturers of America. Her list of accomplishments and honors is long and includes election as national president of the American Home Economics Association, and a Distinguished Alumnae award from her alma mater. Mercedes Bates is shown here with Dave Garroway, star of NBC-TV's "Today" show, in the kitchen.