The Heart of Peace

The Betty Carter Peace Fund is a living memorial to honor Betty Lynn Carter (Bickel) (10-15-1957 to 12-28-1984).  A graduate of Earlham College (Class of ’79), Betty majored in political science, during which her commitment to and skills in the use of peaceful means for conflict resolution were reinforced and sharpened. These were further strengthened while interning with the National Peace Academy Campaign for a term in Washington, D.C. While a student at Earlham, Betty was a member of the Meetinghouse Cabinet, the organization responsible for planning the Sunday morning student worship services in Stout Meetinghouse.  She also did newscasting for Earlham’s radio station(WECI) as well as serving part time as its business manager. The first two summers of her college years, Betty worked at Earlham’s Conner Prairie Pioneer Village as an interpreter, but her final summer as a student was spent in the employ of Richmond’s local radio station WRIA-WKBV as a disc jockey. This work continued throughout her senior year on a part time basis.  Immediately upon graduation, she began working full time for the station, half time as a disc jockey and half time as a news reporter. She became a full-time reporter some months later. At that time, she also began teaching the teen Sunday School Class, at First Friends Church (Richmond), where she was an active member.

Highly regarded for her competency and professionalism as a news reporter, Betty Carter, as she was known professionally, was much appreciated and greatly respected by the entire community for her integrity and perceptiveness in gathering and reporting the news, for her warmth of spirit, and for her conscientious, insightful, supportive participation in community affairs. The meeting of persons’ needs, the effective functioning of community organizations, and the peaceful resolution of conflict situations were of high priority to her, as she actively sought Christ’s guidance and Divine illumination in all areas of her life.

The purpose of The Betty Carter Peace Fund is to bring to the Earlham campus “outstanding persons of Christian faith, scholarship, and experience who are noteworthy for their investigation into the role that moral vision, religious tradition, theology and a life of spiritual sensitivity bring to questions of peace, human relations, and human need of our time.”
 
The fund was originally established in 1985  by Wayne & Betsy Carter (parents) and Philman Bickel (husband). In 2024 the Quaker Leadership Center of the Earlham School of Religion was given oversight of the fund to provide annual events known as “The Heart of Peace: A Speaker & Seminar Series” presented by The Betty Carter Peace Fund to be offered for Earlham College, Earlham School of Religion, the wider Richmond community, and North American Quaker leaders.