Betty W. Herron, a retired federal government worker and homemaker, died of complications from emphysema Jan. 16 at the Edenwald retirement community in Towson. She was 84.

Betty Williams was born and raised in Washington, where she graduated from Roosevelt High School. She earned a bachelor's degree in 1947 from George Washington University.

Mrs. Herron went to work in 1947 for the National Educational Association in Washington as an assistant librarian and was an archivist at the National Archives from 1948 to 1950.

Mrs. Herron later held several jobs with government agencies in Texas and Washington, including working in the Eisenhower White House from 1955 to 1958 for a special presidential assistant.

In 1958, she married Eugene B. Herron Sr., a regional General Services Administration director. He died in 1963.

After her husband's death, Mrs. Herron lived in Potomac before moving to St. Michaels, where she raised her children. When they had graduated from college, she moved to Towson.

Mrs. Herron had been an active member of the League of Women Voters and was a volunteer. She enjoyed reading, writing, bridge and gardening.

She was a member of Calvary Baptist Church in Towson, where services were held Thursday.

Surviving are two sons, Eugene B. Herron Jr. of Baltimore and John A. Herron of Belcamp; a daughter, Helen P. Rowe of Parkville; two brothers, John H. Williams Jr. of Springfield, Va., and Robert T. Williams of Fuquay-Varina, N.C.; and eight grandchildren. Another daughter, Dianne Madoni, died in 2004. An earlier marriage to C. Arnold Wofford ended in divorce.

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