Tomorrow is the memorial for my mother-in-law, Betsy Minkler, who passed about a month ago. She lived to be 100, and died shortly thereafter, as if that marked the finish line. A perfect 100.
When a person lives to be 100 or more, their life becomes a paradigm for the century they experienced. Born in 1925, the Roaring 20s were in full force. One could easily argue that the 2020s are shaping up to be quite memorable in their own way.
Betsy's century on earth was marked by World War, a "Great Depression," the development of Television, modern cars, space travel, global warming, the rise, and dare I say, the domination of technology in all phases of our lives. Betsy rode in all manner of cars, from the early Fords to the electric Toyotas. She dialed phone numbers and she spoke on phones where she need only touch one number to be instantly connected with a friend.
And friends...she had many. Betsy was a people person, once telling a pastor who came to see her near the end, that what she wanted to be remembered for was her love of interesting people. Anyone here today could tell you a story or two about how everything would stop when she met a new person.
In her last years, Betsy ambled around her home in a walker with a personalized license plate that read Ol' Betsy. The woman had a sense of humor. That alone probably contributed to the reason she lived such a long life. She may hold a record somewhere for number of memorial services attended in one year.
I could tell Betsy stories for a good while, but I'll conclude with just one thought.
In my teaching career, I worked with many bright 11th grade students in an Honors English program. One of the singular features of that course was the assignment of what was then called an I-Search paper. This was an alternative to the traditional term paper where instead of using secondary sources, students would interview people about things they really cared about. It could be a possible profession or even a profound philosophical question. A historical event or something, anything, they felt passionate about. Over the years they never ceased to astonish me with the topics they came up with. One year, a student came up with the topic What's it like to be 100 years old? I was overjoyed! I thought, what a great topic. But it never came to fruition. Ultimately she chose another topic. I have always wondered what wisdom that paper might have contained. Now I know.
I'll close with something that I learned from an old friend long since gone who was a personal friend of Woody Guthrie. Bob Dewitt was just about the most unforgettable character I ever met. When the outstanding biography of Woody, by Joe Klein came out, it was entitled "Woody Guthrie-A Life." Bob once told me it should have been entitled "Woody Guthrie-What A Life." I'll steal that line now and end with Betsy Minkler-What A Life.
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