It has been three years since Betty White died at 99 from a cerebrovascular accident, and the US Postal Service (USPS) has designed a new Forever stamp in her honor. The USPS has yet to announce the exact date for its release, but it will be available in post offices by 2025.
The government agency promised to announce more stamps featuring pop culture icons like Allen Toussaint, who will be among the Black Heritage series. According to stamp services director Lisa Bobb-Semple, mail-use stamps are also undergoing an update ahead of the coming year.
The Betty White stamp honors the sitcom star’s legacy
Betty’s seven-decade career started in the ‘50s, and she shot to fame as early as she began. She earned her first Emmy nomination for Best Actress in 1951, and then went on to make Life with Elizabeth, making her the first woman in Hollywood history to produce a sitcom.
Her career peaked in the ‘80s with Golden Girls, where she played Rose Nylund for eight years. The USPS statement called her an icon of American television while highlighting her love for animals, which earned her “Ambassador to the Animals” status in Los Angeles.
What inspired Betty White’s Forever stamp?
The stamp is based on one of Betty’s photos from 2010, taken by celebrity photographer Kwaku Alston. The federal agency confirmed the design by their art director Greg Breeding, while Boston-based artist, Dale Stephanos, handled the digital illustration.
Stamp services director Lisa highlighted USPS’s dedication to providing philatelists and stamp enthusiasts with many subject options and designs to choose from. Excited collectors and Betty fans have expressed their excitement at the announcement online as they await the Forever stamp’s arrival. “She is a national treasure. More than a stamp is needed for her lifetime of work, dedication to animals, and most of all her charisma, common sense, and how she was loved by all,” an X user said in response to the news.