The couple also started the Ballantine Family Fund, which supported arts and education in Southwest Colorado.

After her husband's death in 1975, Ballantine took over the chairmanship of the family-owned publishing company, continuing to produce a weekly column and editorials.

[5] However, she did not earn an undergraduate degree until 1975, receiving her BA in Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado.

[1] In July 1947[1] she remarried to Arthur A. Ballantine, a graduate of Harvard and Yale who was employed as a reporter for the Minneapolis Star and Tribune owned by her father.

[5] Morley served as editor while Arthur managed the financial side of the newspaper;[2] they worked at adjoining desks.

[2] Her connections as the scion of a prominent newspaper family afforded her broader contacts than would normally be available to a small-town publisher.

[2] She was photographed sitting beside President John F. Kennedy at a 1962 luncheon for Colorado publishers and editors at the White House.

[4][7] She expanded the holdings of the family-owned publishing company with the acquisition of the Cortez Journal and the Mancos Times in 1999 and the Dolores Star in 2000.

[2] Other fund beneficiaries were the University of Denver, the Fountain Valley School, the Durango Arts Center, and the San Juan County Historical Society.

[5] Unlike other Colorado publishers, Ballantine gave money as well as endorsements to women's political campaigns.

She was a strong supporter of EMILY's List, and also donated to the campaigns of women candidates in other states.

[1][10] Active in the League of Women Voters for more than five decades,[5] she served on the state board of that organization from 1960 to 1965.