Background
Spandikow, Betty Valiree was born on September 27, 1923 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Daughter of Francis Oliver Redmond and Valiree Pearl Jones.
Spandikow, Betty Valiree was born on September 27, 1923 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Daughter of Francis Oliver Redmond and Valiree Pearl Jones.
Graduated from high school, Chicago.
She was a co-author of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, which has been translated into eight languages and Braille. She worked in accounting before starting her family. The group had been fascinated by the importance placed on breastfeeding by early Spanish settlers in what is now the United States, who in 1598, dedicated a shrine to “Nuestra Senora de la Leche y Buen Parto” (“Our Lady of Happy Delivery and Plentiful Milk”).
Louisiana Leche League International (LLLI), a breastfeeding support not-for-profit organization, now has groups in every United States. state and in 64 nations.
She initiated "flex hours" and a family-friendly workplace in the 1960s. Her first husband, Robert Wagner, by whom she had seven children, died in 1975.
Betty Wagner Spandikow had suffered a stroke and been dealing with Alzheimer"s disease at the time of her death at the age of 85 on October 26, 2008.
Spandikow was a member of the Board of Directors for the League, and at various times served as Treasurer, Business Manager, and Executive Director, a title she held for 19 years until she retired at the age of 70.
Married Robert A. Wagner, October 27, 1942 (deceased June 1975). Children: Gail Gralzianna Robert, A. Wagner, Mary Ruth Wright, Margaret Dowd, Dorothea Rasmussen, Helen Huntley. Married Paul W. Spandikow, November 6, 1993.