Guest Author - Linda Sue Grimes

Most people recognize the name Betty Ford because of the Betty Ford Center, whose mission is “To provide effective alcohol and other drug dependency treatment services, including programs of education and research to help women, men and families begin the process of recovery.” The center was founded in 1982 and has helped many individuals with alcohol and drug dependencies, including celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor, Kelsey Grammer, and Tony Curtis.

Betty Ford was born Elizabeth Anne Bloomer in Chicago on April 18, 1918, to William Stephenson Bloomer and Hortense Neahr Bloomer. She has two older brothers. The family moved to Grand Rapids, where Betty was raised. She became very interested in dance, taking lessons when she was eight years old. She said that dance was her “happiness.”

Later she studied dance at Bennington College in Vermont. After choosing to make dance a career, she joined the Martha Graham’s group in New York City. She also supported herself as a model with the John Robert Powers agency.

Betty relocated back to her home city of Grand Rapids, where she took a job as fashion coordinator for a department store and also started a dance group and taught dance to handicapped children.

In the spring of 1942 at age 24, Betty married William Warren. The marriage lasted only five years and they divorced in 1947 because of incompatibility. Her parents had objected to marriage from the beginning.

She met Gerald Rudolph Ford, a University of Michigan and Yale Law School graduate. The two soon fell in love; he proposed in February 1948, and they married in October. Ford was running for congress, so they planned the wedding to take place just before the fall election.

Of course, Ford won the 1948 election and every one from 1948 through 1972. The Fords lived the next three decades in Washington, D.C. Betty gave birth to their four children—Michael, Jack, Steven, and Susan— during the first ten years of their marriage.

Betty shouldered much responsibility as her husband’s political career demanded. In addition to raising her children and supervising their home, she participated in “House wives” and “Senate wives” activities. She also took an active lead in campaigning for her husband.

Betty Ford became First Lady August 9, 1974, and served in that position until January 20, 1977. During her stint as first lady, she suffered from breast cancer as well as from alcoholism and drug dependency. From her experiences, which she so generously shared, came a new awareness of the efficacy of early detection for breast cancer.

And, of course, her foresight motivated her founding of the famous Betty Ford Center that has given so many people back their dignity after suffering the ravages of drug and alcohol dependency. Every first lady brings a special quality to that position, and Betty Ford’s courage and stamina will secure hers as one the most outstanding legacies of all.

Reference:
First Ladies
Betty Ford

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Books by Linda Sue Grimes:

Singing in the Silence: Poems of Faith

In 1978, I began studying the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda. I still study those teachings and strive to practice what I learn. I think of my writing as an extension and reinforcement of my spiritual studies. I am especially happy when the poems focus on my spiritual journey, as those in this volume do. I want to take sadness and turn it into joy, and I want to take anger and turn it into acceptance. But mostly, I want to acknowledge the beauty and mystery of God's presence in creation.


Jiggery Jee's Eden Valley Stories

Hello, my name is Jiggery-Jee. I live in Eden Valley. Eden Valley is located in the very center of the Land of the Imagination. Surrounding Eden Valley are such places as Tulip Grove, Carrot Valley, Bunnyville, Faultner Grove, and Flower Town. We have many residents in Eden Valley who came to the Valley from the surrounding places. They come here because Eden Valley is peaceful. All of the residents of Eden Valley work and play and live in an atmosphere of harmony. The weather is always perfect; the sun shines when we need sun, and the rain rains when we need rain. However, I must warn you that although things really are peaceful and harmonious in Eden Valley, sometimes they do not start out that way; we often have to work to make life peaceful and harmonious.
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