Betty Lou Young was a United States writer and conservationist. Young was born in Minneapolis to Chester Haller, the owner of a lumber warehouse, and his wife Amy, who was a teacher. While Betty was still a baby, her parents separated, and her mother relocated in Long Beach

Long Beach, California

Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...

. Betty received her undergraduate education at UCLA

University of California, Los Angeles

The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...

, and her masters at Smith College

Smith College

Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...

 in 1942, at which point she met and married the doctor Thomas Young.

Betty Lou Young became deeply involved in her local community of Rustic Canyon, Los Angeles, writing several books about the Pacific Palisades area. In the 1960s she campaigned to preserve the Santa Monica Mountains

Santa Monica Mountains

The Santa Monica Mountains are a Transverse Range in Southern California, along the coast of the Pacific Ocean in the United States.-Geography:...

against plans for commercial and residential development. Thomas died in 1994, and Betty Lou in 2010. They had one son, Thomas R. Young – who collaborated with Betty Lou on some of her books – and two daughters.