Betty Lewis (1925–2008) grew up in Santa Cruz, California and attended school there for 12 years then going to Salinas Jr. College. She started writing historical articles for the Watsonville Register Pajaronian in 1974. Her weekly column titled "That Was Watsonville" appeared every Thursday evening in that newspaper. She has also written articles for the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Salinas Californian and various other publications. She authored nine historical books of Watsonville and surrounding areas.