Although the position was a political appointment, Bettwy served for the next nine years under four governors (Jack Williams, Raul Hector Castro, Wesley Bolin and Bruce Babbitt).

He had one brother, William Frederick Bettwy (1918–2005) of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, the first commercial pilot to land at Washington Dulles Airport.

His studies were interrupted by the war in Europe where he served as an armored car commander in a reconnaissance squadron during the push from Calais to Berchtesgaden, earning two battle stars and a Purple Heart.

Bettwy did not particularly enjoy the practice of law, but he loved Arizona and knew its history and every inch of its territory, having traveled it many times over with his father.

Laura's father, Vicente Escalante, was Mayor of Hermosillo, and her brother-in-law (through her sister Amparo Escalante) was Ramón Corral who served in several public offices in Mexico, including the governor of Sonora and vice president of the republic with President Porfirio Díaz from 1904 to 1911.

In the late 1950s, he moved his entire family from Arizona to Mexico City where he practiced law as an associate for the law firm of Goodrich Riquelme y Asociados, A.C.[7] His children (Andrew, Samuel and Maria) were therefore raised in Mexico City and then later in Phoenix, Arizona.