By Pat Lawrence
Betty White |
Betty White says being chairman of the St. Francis Auxiliary’s
fundraising committee is her fun job. She’s held the position
for three years, and shows no sign of slowing down.
Her last job was President of the Auxiliary for two years, and she
admits she had a great time doing that, too. One of the other Auxiliary
members says “Betty made the job look like such fun, I don’t
know why everyone doesn’t want to be President.”
Born and raised in Belle, WV, Betty married and raised two children.
She and her husband traveled to Alaska for his work with the telephone
company, but came home to raise their family and have been there by
the river ever since. A former teacher’s aid, Betty was in the
first group of teacher’s aids hired in West Virginia. After
the children were out of school she worked in retail for 20 years.
“It’s a little hard on your feet, but I enjoyed it.”
She even worked for the city of Belle, taking care of billing and
office work. Ten years ago she retired, or at least, she retired from
getting a paycheck. Without planning it, Betty had established the
ideal background for her future volunteer work at St. Francis.
The Auxiliary sponsors a variety of events that involve the staff
and the public. Betty’s committee organizes book sales for the
staff and visitors, uniform sales for the staff, and jewelry sales
that everyone appreciates. They have raffles, bake sales and junk
sales. And then there is Betty’s pet project, the Rock-a-thon.
“We’re having our second Rock-a-thon this year. Since
we’re all grannies -I have two grandchildren and three great
grandchildren- we rock in rocking chairs instead of walking or running
for pledges. This year we’ll rock at the new Cracker Barrel
in Kanawha City.” She has also planned a gallery sale. “The
company has offered to set up in our lobby with pictures and prints.
Anyone can buy them and the hospital gets a small share of the profit.”
The auxiliary has a hot dog sale in the hospital and the annual spaghetti
dinner is coming up soon. “The location changes, and this year
it’s at Good Shepherd. We sell about 400 tickets.”
Betty’s other fun job is working seven hours in the hospital
gift shop every Wednesday. “The gift shop is open from 7 am
to 8 pm, so we have three shifts.” Betty works the counter and
orders the cards sold at the gift shop. She spends 50-60 hours a month
at her volunteer jobs.
Just 71, Betty still swims at the YWCA. She was taking swimming class
when a fellow YW member was discussing how much she enjoyed the St.
Francis Auxiliary, but how many members had recently been lost to
illness. “I asked if she thought I could help. She asked if
I’d like to join. I thought, ‘Why not?’ And, that’s
how I came to choose St. Francis.”
Betty says she has enjoyed life, from the boisterous cheering at
Mountaineer football games to the abiding pleasures of her family.
She says,” As I’ve gotten older, it’s gotten better.
Last month my niece told me, ‘That job at the hospital changed
you. You just seem to enjoy life so much.’”
Betty, on her way out the door, says, “And she’s right.”
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