March 2004
Lucybeth
Rampton MA'62, former first lady of Utah
In 1995, the Utah State Hospital in Provo named its residential facility after Lucybeth Rampton, the state's former first lady who won the heart of Utahns for her willingness to talk publicly about her own struggle with chronic depression.
Lucybeth Rampton, her husband, Cal Rampton, at her side, died [January 23, 2004] at St. Mark's Hospital in Millcreek. She was 89.
"She woke up about 8:30 Wednesday morning and called out to Dad, saying she was in some distress," her daughter, Janet Rampton Warburton, said. She "had a heart attack and we were never able to get her conscious again."
The night before, Lucybeth Rampton was "talking to us about politics and being glad that John Kerry was doing well in the primaries. She was just alert as ever," Warburton said.
And as passionate about her beliefs.
Rampton opened doors for people who suffered from mental illness but feared retribution if their illness was discovered. She forced insurance companies to review their policies—many of which didn't cover mental health.
Lucybeth understood what it was like to suffer in silence. It wasn't until a decade after her husband left office in 1976 after three terms as the state's Democratic governor that she divulged that during those 12 years she was plagued by depression.
Lucybeth Rampton also fought for those whose voices were discounted or rarely heard.
In a 1997 letter to The Salt Lake Tribune's Public Forum, she expressed outrage at some legislators' view of gays.
"At a time in their lives when these young people are struggling to find identity, self-respect and peer acceptance, they are meeting instead with peer ostracism, rejection by home and church, loneliness and depression," she wrote.
"I wonder what our self-righteous legislators would do if one day a child or grandchild came to them and said, 'I have something to tell you. I am gay' or 'I am lesbian.' Would they cast out that young person and one day find his/her name and picture on the obituary page? Check it out: Many appear there."
Warburton said her mother "had a lot of courage to stand up for the equal rights of women, the rights of the mentally ill, Planned Parenthood and all kinds of things that weren't very popular in her day.
"Last night my son said the thing he valued most about her was just that," she said. "The grandchildren all learned from her that you have to stand up for what you believe in—regardless of what it is."
Former first lady Norma Matheson, who succeeded Lucybeth Rampton, called her "the epitome of what a first lady should be—compassionate, committed to doing all she could for the many good causes for which she had a particular concern."
Added Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, "Lucybeth was consistently gracious, dignified and unswerving in her commitment to the highest principles. She was the perfect first lady for our state, beloved equally by Democrats and Republicans."
Lucybeth Elizabeth Cardon Rampton was born on Aug. 10, 1914, in Washington, D.C., to Leah Ivins and Phillip Vincent Cardon. She married Cal Rampton on March 10, 1940. The two had met on a blind date while living in Washington. Both were engaged to others.
"We broke off our engagements," Lucybeth Rampton was quoted as saying in a 1997 Tribune story. "We figured this was the real thing and we've never regretted it."
She earned a bachelor's degree from Utah State University in Logan and her master's in anthropology at the University of Utah, which later awarded her an honorary doctorate. She was active in the U.'s Department of Anthropology for most of her adult life leading up to, and in part including, her years of service to Utah. She taught for two years at Westminster College in Salt Lake City.
by Joanne Jacobsen-Wells, The Salt Lake Tribune, 1/25/04
U-News
& Views © 2004 - An online publication
by the University of Utah Alumni Association
Questions? Concerns? Contact Linda Marion, editor
(801-587-7837; lmarion@alumni.utah.edu)