Betty’s autobiography starts, “A friend once told me that I took advantage of whatever came to me, and put all my talents into whatever I chose to do.”
The hour I spent with Betty at her country estate home proved her friend correct.
She opened Betty Stuart Photography in Evanston in 1945, after graduating from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. “I wanted to be a war correspondent, but I liked making money,” Betty says.
Applying photojournalism storytelling to weddings quickly made her successful. “I used pictures to tell the who, what, where, when and why of a wedding.” This pioneering approach made her studio a success.
She still found time for her own wedding and married John Rodgers, Jr. in 1946. She changed her studio’s name to Stuart Rodgers and gave birth to the four children they raised in Barrington Hills and Northfield. Unfortunately, their marriage faltered when the kids left for college.
Betty has photographed presidents. movie stars and others at the pinnacle of their profession. The array of photos of her with these individuals are a testimony to a well-lived and fascinating life. But Betty’s repeated references to her fantastic children, stepchildren and grandchildren make it clear that family has always been her highest priority. Many family members now work at Stuart Rodgers, which is now run by her son, Scott. “He is so smart!” she declares.
Though she has retired from work, her family continues her photographic lrgacy, and she continues to live vibrantly with her husband, Lyman Jeffries, and their large family and circle of cherished friends.
