At least there is something everyone can finally agree on, we hope. It’s Betty. Betty White was the picture of health and kindness, spunk, and a mix of classy nastiness. We all loved Betty because she loved life, she loved you, her audience, and her profession. She loved animals and she loved being alive and being human. She had a great run from 1922 to 2021. Who says the good die young? Not Betty!
Betty was entertainment through and through but not that phony sticky stuff. She started out at age 8 on radio. She skipped college to jump start her career. She was a DJ at one point and even drove a PX truck for the AWVS during WWII. She said she loved to hear people laugh and her face and her eyes said it all. They were the expression of her happiness and that became contagious. The message was be kind and appreciate each moment. She loved people and critters and at one point even wanted to be a zookeeper.
Betty was the real deal and we loved her for that. If you look up kindness in the dictionary, Betty’s name should be there. She was a recipe of Danish, Greek, English, and Welsh descent, a Democrat (we will claim her), married three times, and a stepmother of three. In 1954, she held the line and defied racist demands on her popular talk show. In 2010, she hosted SNL as the oldest person to host the show at 88 years old. She was in every skit!
We remember how her smile made us feel, and her generous spirit made us want to be a bit like her. No one is perfect and she even reported that she snuck in a little cosmetic surgery before starting the Golden Girls. She was no angel but pretty darn close.
We would like to think that there is a little bit of Betty in all of us. Now, if we could just tap into that and make someone smile today, we could say this one’s for you, Betty!
“I’m just Betty. I’m the same Betty that I’ve always been. Take it or leave it.”
Betty White – December 31, 2021
