A journalist described as a weekly newspaper’s “First Lady” has died aged 93.

Betty Simpson, pictured left, was well-known to staff and readers of the Falkirk Herald, where she worked as a reporter as well as penning a popular column.

Born in Clydebank in 1922, Betty was raised by relatives in Kilmarnock after her mother, Bessie, died in childbirth.

She left school at 14 to work in an accountants office, before joining the WRAF aged 17.

Betty was based in Stranraer and Yorkshire before being posted to Coastal Command at RAF Lossiemouth in 1946.

It was there she met her future husband, Graham, who served with the RAF as a photo processing engraver.

Graham was later hired to do the same job at The Herald, Glasgow, while Betty raised their children Lesley, Fergus and Joan.

In 1953 Graham joined the Falkirk Herald as head of its photographic processing department, and Betty joined the company four years later.

She began writing her ‘Between Ourselves’ column under the pseudonym Jean Graham, which observed the trials and tribulations of family life and featured handy hints and recipes.

Betty later became a full-time staff reporter covering general news, the council and sheriff court and was also the Herald’s arts correspondent.

In that capacity she covered a performance by a boy soprano named Alex Salmond, a review the future Scottish First Minister would recall years later in his book.

The newspaper’s obituary to Betty described her as its “First Lady”, who was “known and loved by thousands”.

In 1973 when Graham was promoted by the company to managing director of its sister group of weeklies in Ayrshire, Betty gave up her role to move to the coast.

The couple returned to Falkirk in 1981 after Graham was appointed a senior executive of the Falkirk Herald Group before retiring the following year.

Betty, who died on 7 July and lost Graham in 2002, is survived by their three children, four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.