Well, she does fit the profile of a Michigan native, who after
experiencing a few winters like the one we are having now, do retreat to
sunny Florida. Many of us
who are shivering now can certainly forgive her.
Betty
was born in Detroit, as she puts it, many, many years ago. Shortly
thereafter she attended Van Steuben Elementary School and later
graduated from Denby High School in June, 1941.
Her
career ambition was to be a Nurse, but somehow she was side tracked and
enrolled in a retail cooperative program at Wayne University. She was
required to work in a retail store and subsequently became employed at
Montgomery Ward. It didn’t take her long to realize that life in
retailing was not for her, so she left Wards and took a job at Briggs
Manufacturing, where her Dad was employed and provided her with door to
door transportation.
This
was a war time period so in February 1943 Betty enlisted in the Army and
became an Air W.A.C. Her service time provided training in IBM
technology in Orlando and then sent her to the Washington for service at
Bolling Field and the Pentagon.
She
joined the Blues in 1946 and worked in several service departments until
1948. Florida was calling again and she enrolled in Florida State in
1951. When she learned her mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer,
she returned to Michigan where she again joined BCBSM and remained until
retiring in 1986. Her
career with the Blues took her from the Enrollment Department in Detroit
to the Westside Office, the Mt. Clemens Office, the Pontiac Office and
finally to the newly established Utica location.
Her last position was supervising 11 walk-in Customer Service
Offices in the Lower Peninsula.
After
under going hip replacement and knee surgery she decided she did not
want to slip and slide on Michigan snow and ice so she decided to return
to Florida in July of 1990.
Even
though Betty never pursued a career in Nursing, her current volunteer
activity includes work at the Hospice of Florida Suncoast in Clearwater,
which she points out is the largest and most comprehensive in the world.
She also spends time as a volunteer in her church processing mailings to
her fellow members.
Seventeen
years ago she began hosting a luncheon for active and retired BCBSM
employees, in her new hometown of Clearwater. Please take note in
another section of this publication, she is till sponsoring this annual
event.
By
the way she does visit her native state of Michigan occasionally -- but
only in the summer.
