Idaho Democratic matriarch Bethine Church dies
Bethine Church, matriarch of the Idaho Democratic Party and wife of the late U.S. Sen. Frank Church, has died. She was 90.
Her son, Chase Church, said she died at about 6:15 p.m. Saturday of old age after two weeks on home hospice, listening to Christmas music with he and his wife, Pam, by her side.
Bethine Church traveled the world with her husband, campaigning with him four times for senator and once for president in 1976.
The daughter and niece of former Idaho governors, she was often called the “third Senator” from Idaho because of her active participation in public life during her husband’s tenure in the Senate.
Church became a widow in 1984 when her husband died of cancer at the age of 59.
