USPS pays homage to Betty White with postage stamp feature
The U.S. Postal Service is honoring the late Betty White with a postage stamp set to be released in 2025.
The wait for the Betty White stamp is finally over.
The beloved comedian, whose long-running career made her a staple of American culture, was honored with her own U.S. postage, revealed in a first-day-of-issue ceremony Thursday at the Los Angeles Zoo. White worked with the zoo from its inaugural year in 1966 to her death in 2021.
Much like the spark and humor that grounded White, the stamp will not expire. A forever stamp, the postage will always represent the current price of a 1-ounce First-Class Mail postage. All commemorative stamps are forever stamps.
The stamp design shows the late “Golden Girls” star grinning on a violet background wearing a polka dot shirt, a digital illustration created by Dale Stephanos based on a 2010 photo by Kwaku Alston.
Singer-songwriter Ellis Hall performed parts of “Thank You for Being a Friend,” the theme song to “The Golden Girls,” at the ceremony and fans got a dose of the wildlife that White so loved.
“Animals were her kids and she loved them all — any shape, size and kind,” Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association board member Richard Lichtenstein said at the ceremony, the Associated Press reports.
When announcing the stamp originally, the U.S. Postal Service said the design, which will be sold on a pane of 20, exudes White’s “spritely sense of fun” and features bubbly spots on the background “that befit her sparkling personality.”
“It’s just a great photo — a sweet spot in her older years,” Stephanos said of the design in an interview with TODAY.com published Thursday. “I just kind of used that as reference and then kind of changed the colors and tried to make it more handmade than a photo would be.”
“This is the only stamp I’m going to use for the rest of my life,” joked Stephanos, who said White reminded him of his mother. “I’m going to be so obnoxious with this.”
Betty White’s military service, career more
Not just a celebrated actress and comic, White was also largely viewed as a representative for Americans of a certain era.
She served as a member of the American Women’s Voluntary Services during World War II and her shoulder bag from that time is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington D.C.
White received a whopping 21 Primetime Emmy nominations and won five during her lengthy television and film career, which included memorable roles on “The Mary Tyler Moore,” “The Golden Girls,” and “Hot in Cleveland.”
Her spunky humor and dead-pan delivery juxtaposed delightfully with her “grandmother next door” appearance.
She died on New Year’s Eve 2021 at age 99.
Where can you buy the Betty White stamp
Fans of White can buy the stamp online at the USPS store’s website Friday and it will be available at local post office locations following the launch.
Contributing: Brendan Morrow
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