Betty Sue Hearnes (née Cooper; July 24, 1927 – December 14, 2023) was an American Democratic Party politician from Missouri.

[1] On July 2, 1948, she married Warren E. Hearnes, a recent West Point graduate, while he was on leave from the United States Army.

She was his partner throughout his career, including his two terms as Governor of Missouri and the federal investigations of his conduct by the Nixon White House, until his death in August 2009.

[4] Ashcroft received 64 percent of the vote in the general election—the largest landslide for Missouri governor since the Civil War.

[6] In 2005, both Warren and Betty Hearnes were awarded the Edwin P. Hubble Medal of Initiative during the Charleston Dogwood-Azalea Festival.