Longtime community leader Betty Kinser has died. The educator, political activist, and community servant shed a bright light for decades, one she cast as much with her energy as she did her personal warmth and vivid personality.
- “She was such an incredible woman,” said McLean County Democratic Party chair Patrick Cortesi.
- “Betty was always one of those special people that you can't forget," said Illinois Legislative Inspector General Mike McCuskey.
- “Vivacious and gregarious. You know, she had several lives,” said former congressional candidate Mike Kelleher.
- “She always had the greatest enthusiasm. She was a bundle of energy. She was just wonderful to be around,” said former Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner.
- “Just an incredible, incredible person,” said former Illinois State University student trustee Aaron Von Qualen.
Kinser spent decades at Illinois State University in various roles in the College of Fine Arts, but she also briefly taught high school art. One of those students was Mike Kelleher, on whose campaign Kinser later worked. He told the story of Kinser noticing another student cheating by copying from Kelleher’s paper.
“Of course, I was a freshman at the time and this kid would have beat me up if I had told on him. Betty was so tough. She called this kid out and she told him that he shouldn't do that. And of course, I just loved how vivacious and gregarious she was,” said Kelleher.
Kinser was energized by that congressional campaign 24 years ago. Former Bloomington Mayor Terry Renner said that was the start of a big contribution by Kinser.
“She learned, and a lot of people did, in the Kelleher campaign of 2000. They kind of cut their teeth, and then they became the energy of what really brought us to a two-party system in McLean County,” said Renner.
Renner said Kinser set the stage to move from a time when the balance on the county board was a 17-3 Republican majority to what is now a 10-10 split. Kinser ran a couple of times for county board herself and served as co-chair of the county Democratic Party.
Current party chair Patrick Cortesi said Kinser got into politics with the jubilance in which she did everything else.
“She helped run our elections. She organized some of our fundraising dinners. Much like she did with everything she took a part in, she gave it everything she had and then some,” said Cortesi.
Cortesi said very few people could keep up with Kinser, and the joy she took in doing things inspired people to do likewise.
“Her willingness to do what it takes was incredible and inspirational. We're gonna miss her,” said Cortesi.
Kinser was a go-to person to get things done all the way from step A to step Z and she tackled projects both at a high strategic level and the grind-it-out things that had to be done. Renner said Kinser worked on his congressional campaign too.
“For example, if you're trying to get mailers out you've got to get volunteers to get in there to say, OK, we've got well over 100,000 cards that have to be addressed, and make sure that the stamps are on them. And that is a very large operation. Betty was tireless in making sure that things didn't slip through the cracks,” said Renner.
Kinser strengthened the Democratic Party statewide too. Von Qualen noted it's not everyone who, when they get sick, gets flowers sent by both Sen. Dick Durbin and then-Sen. Barack Obama.
Illinois State University service
Another big aspect of Kinser’s life and dedication was Illinois State University.
Von Qualen was the student trustee when Kinser was appointed by the governor to serve on the ISU board. He said Kinser lived and breathed ISU.
“Every sporting event for a long time that I went to … Betty was right there. She was always wearing red. She drove a red Mitsubishi. She always had one of those Redbird tattoos on her face at the football game. She was Illinois State to a T,” said Von Qualen.
Von Qualen said Kinser mentored him. She had lunch with him once a month. She picked up the tab. He said those were amazing times and he learned a lot about professionalism from Kinser.
“Just her thoughtfulness, her caring. The professionalism that she brought to the board. As you can imagine, sometimes debates and negotiations can get a little intense, depending on what the topic is. She had a way of calming the board a little bit and bringing us back to focus on the best interests of Illinois State University and the students, faculty, and staff. She had a profound way of doing that,” said Von Qualen.
Another ISU trustee was Mike McCluskey, the chair, in fact. Now, when you get into a room crammed with a bunch of bigwigs, there's a natural center around which people orbit. You might think McCluskey would be that center. He's currently the Legislative Inspector General for the State of Illinois. But McCuskey said when Kinser was in the room, the center was not him.
"If you were around Betty, she attracted the crowd. She attracted the friends and the people and then she introduced me to them. So, the fact that I was a federal judge or chairman of the Board of Trustees wasn't a big deal when you were around Betty because she had probably thousands of friends,” said McCuskey.
That's not to say Kinser sought the limelight or tried to take over. He said Kinser was just so genuine a person, it just happened as people responded to her warmth. He said you should not let the warmth disguise Kinser’s steely determination. She had a serious stroke while on the board. McCuskey happened to visit Kinser in the hospital the day she began to walk again, something doctors weren't sure would happen.
“She always had a smile, was always in a good mood, even when she had almost died with this stroke and she's trying to get up and do her first step. I know it was painful, but Betty wasn't going to let you think that she was anything but Betty-with-a-smile,” said McCuskey.
Kinser did recover. She returned to the ISU board and to full activity in the community. Having packed five lives into one, she leaves behind a political party, a family, a community, a state and a university made much better for her work and energy. Betty Kinser was 83.
