I Didn't Miss Much

By Bettie Witherspoon Wright

This memoirs, is about me Bettie, growing my interesting and spiritual life.
The first part starts with my husband returning home after World War II. My trip to San Diego to pick him up and our enjoyable and exciting life without limitations for fourteen years. before wanting to settle down.

The second part is Betties family and her young life with her loving family. Betties mother spends summers camping with the children. All the wonderful times, trips with family, finding lover, Ed. Marriage, and never having enough money. World War II starting and Betties life while Ed was gone Bettie's mother spends summers camping with the children. All the wonderful
times, trips with family, finding lover, Ed. Marriage. and never having enough money. World War II starting and Bettie's life while Ed was gone.

The third part is starting a family, our home, offer of a trip with mother to Europe. Sarah fi ve and
Susan three years old, can I go? Stretching further, giving the children dancing and ballet lessons, Ed
said we couldnt afford but were always paid. Traveling on credit cards, always never worrying about
the cost. Travel business trips. Shoestring trip to Europe and the houses we lived in, always moving from
house to house.

Enjoying life in Surprise.Arizona

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 3, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465306623

Bettie Witherspoon Wright

Started in 1981 ‘ Is it enough at my age?’ My life is diversified and busy, but am I accomplishing what I want? In the last fifty years, I’ve given birth and had the privilege of helping three girls to maturity. I was a church soloist for twenty years and practiced singing every day at home and with an accompanist once a week. When my middle daughter Susan was six years old I formed a Campfire-Girls group of ten neighborhood children and was their leader for five years. I taught the singing at Campfire Day camp for four summers. I was known as ‘Sing-a-ling the ‘Singing lady.’ My mother took me to Europe in 1962 for six weeks. When I returned I began Italian lessons from a wonderful elderly Italian gentleman. The lessons lasted for four months. I have also taken Italian from Diablo Valley College in the Acalanes Adult Education Department. I studied jazz piano and real estate in Berkeley and was very happy to find I passed the test in San Francisco and received my license. My Dad had been in the business for forty years and my husband Ed went to work for him. The real estate business was not for me. A friend of mine in the Unity church asked me to be a partner in a needle craft business which I knew nothing about. She thought I could design for the company because I had taken lessons in oil painting but each is different from the other. This adventure was to cost me nothing but after two year the business folded, she walked out and I was left with all the bills. I considered this a lesson from God. I went again to Europe in 1977. This time I took my three daughters. After we returned from our six weeks journey; I started teaching singing and took a part-time job selling women’s clothing at a specialty shop in the mall. Travel interested me so I took a series of travel courses from the adult education department and sang with the Contra Costa Chorus for several months and also sang with them at the Orinda theater. After I fell and broke my pelvic bone I couldn’t do anything for several months. In 1980 I traveled to England to visit my daughter Sarah who was a flight attendant with Pan American Airways, stationed at Heathrow near the airport of the same name. I have always enjoyed singing and have tried out for many musicals. I have performed in three or four and have had some good parts. I auditioned for the San Francisco Opera Chorus and didn’t make it but it was something I wouldn’t have missed. I attended Diablo Valley College for three semesters, taking Music Theory, French, English, drama, piano, singing and Creative writing. I have lived in Berkeley, Kensington, Orinda, Lafayette, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill and in Concord. Just before we moved from Walnut Creek I visited my daughter Sarah in New York and we took a trip to Hong Kong. Next I planned a trip with my church to India to see the Taj Mahal. I attended school Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:00am to 12:00 at Diablo Valley college in Concord, Ca. Tuesday I took Creative writing from 9:30 until noon. Monday night I took a travel course in Oakland from Vista College. I picked up and delivered my daughter Susan in high school, and took her to dancing and piano lessons. I study, write, practice the piano, clean house, fix meals and work part time arranging rips, but I don’t spend enough time at it. My youngest daughter Sydney and I took Tahitian dancing lessons. I performed in Diablo Valley’s production of ‘Damn Yankees.’ I would say I’m busy. I’ve thought about cutting out some of my programs but can’t seem to find any I want to eliminate. There are many more courses I would like to take, it’s just like when I look at a dinner menu. I want to try everything. If I lived to be two hundred I could never be bored. Maybe I answered my own question. Am I accomplishing what I want? As I’ve written another book entitled I didn’t Miss Much, I’m still “at it.” After my husband retired we moved to Arizona and I was in the Mrs. Senior Arizona Pageant. I took Surprise Unity members to Peru, Oaxaca and Italy. I arranged and took my husband Ed to Europe two times. I began rewriting my memoirs and rewriting and having them edited by my good friend and writer Mary Peirano. Now that I am ninety, I have published one memoir and working on the one you are reading now. while still practicing piano and working to sell my book.

Book preview

I Didn’t Miss Much

Bettie Witherspoon Wright

Copyright © 2012 by Bettie Witherspoon Wright.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011960986

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4653-0661-6

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4653-0660-9

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4653-0662-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

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Xlibris Corporation

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

I Fun Times

II Growing Bettie

III Stretching Beyond

Dedicated to:   My daughter Sydney, who suggested I use my portrait for the cover of my book.

My good friend and Editor Mary Ellen who gave me the title for my book.

My computer expert Victor who spent many hours helping me in many other ways.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My first writing teacher and friend, Shyrle Hacker, an author, taught me all about writing.

The Writers Critique group at the Glendale Library, who tore-apart my work, but helped me to write.

My friend and editor, Mary Ellen, who read and edited all of my spelling, sentence structure and supplied sentence changes in my writings. Mary Ellen helped me in many ways.

I am a spiritual being

Living in a spiritual world

Under spiritual law and

Having a special adventure

In a human body.

I

FUN TIMES

World War II was over and my husband and lover Edward was discharged from the Navy. He was on his way home. I was excited as he had been stationed in Hawaii for twenty months and the Navy didn’t want me in Hawaii.

I was living in the same apartment in Berkeley, California, where he had left me with his 1936 ford convertible. We had married just before he joined the Navy in 1942. Neither of us had reached our twenty-first birthday.

Now I was driving our Ford from Berkeley to Terminal Island near San Diego, where I was meeting Ed after his discharge from the navy. When I arrived we were both overwhelmed with love and happiness.

Ed drove us into Los Angeles where we rented a room at the Mayflower Hotel. Life was terrific and I was acting like a silly little girl. We stayed at the Mayflower Hotel for a couple of days and then moved out. We couldn’t find another room in town. We met up with some young naval officers and their wives; they invited us to a party where we had more darn fun.

Everyone at the party tried to help find us a room. For some reason nothing seemed to worry me. I remember sitting outside on a balcony that had a rail fence. I had my legs and feet dangling over the railing. I had had a few drinks and felt on top of the world; life was wonderful and all was really well with me, even though Ed had made an earlier remark, I don’t know if I want to stay married. I didn’t think he meant it, so it didn’t bother me.

We found a room and after we had checked in we left for a nightclub on a side street off the Strip in Hollywood. The nightclub had a wonderful singer, and after we left the club I wondered if it had been Sarah Vaughan before she became well-known. She sang the blues and had just the right voice for that venue.

After we arrived back to Berkeley my sister was still living in our fourplex. Now her husband was back and he was living there too. We stayed at a hotel for a couple of nights and then moved in with my parents. Ed wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, he was out of the navy and interested in music. We talked about him going to music school. He took some tests at the University to see what he would be good at doing. It turned out he would be good at many different things. He decided to get a job while making up his mind. He went to work for an outdoor sign company. He seemed to enjoy working there and liked the men he worked with. It was all outside work and as long as he located and rented the space for signs, he could come home once in a while and spend some time with me at lunch.

My sister and her husband found another place to live. Ed and I moved back into our apartment and then went out shopping for a house to buy. I had saved some money while Ed was in Hawaii. We found a small house sitting over three garages in Kensington. The builder had been storing his building materials in the garages. We bought the house for seven thousand five hundred dollars The house had a tile roof, three rooms, a kitchen with a breakfast nook, a bedroom and bath off the hall and a beamed-ceiling living room that had a view looking out to the bay and San Francisco.

Then my father asked Ed, How would you like to work for me in the real estate business? We talked it over and after several discussions Ed decided to go to work for my dad. I helped him study for the agent examination. I was supportive of anything he wanted to do. He and I both loved music. He had played trumpet in several bands before joining the navy, but he didn’t think the music business was a good idea for a wife and family even though we didn’t have kids yet. Ed passed the test and went to work for my father July 1950 and became a salesman member of the Berkeley Realty Board.

Party Time

While Ed was working for Dad we attended many, many delightful conventions and parties. The first was just after Ed went to work for my father in September of 1950. It was in Santa Cruz and what a time we had. We rented a cottage across the street from the beach. The convention was held in a lovely old hotel, on the beach about a block away from our cottage.

When we went to the hotel to register, we received a number of free tickets for cocktails at local bars and restaurants.

I attended most of the meetings with Ed and at five o’clock we would go to our Berkeley Boardroom for hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. The room was packed. We’d stand around talking, eating and drinking. This was all new to Ed and me. We really enjoyed our selves. We met many interesting people from all over the state. Each Real Estate Board provided a room in