Lee Note 73 Betty Riley July 2, 2001

My Mini/Maxi-Bio For REL Class of 1960

REL Class of ’60,

I have enjoyed reading some of the Lee Notes sent to Kay. Looks like we are everywhere.

Judy Bowers, your thoughts were so heart-warming and true as you voiced our supportive "spirit of camaraderie" with each other. We did have an encouraging environment to persevere and perfect our various God-given gifts and talents in order to make our world a better place to live in. I am inspired reading everyone’s comments.

It is amazing that through the efforts of Kay, since February, we have this mass communication option available to us! Thanks again, Kay. I am overwhelmed by all of this. As I mentioned to her last week at our incredible dinner meeting (DFW Marriott South)------I still think I am dreaming. The only person I’ve seen from our class in all these years was Larry Crain and his wife Eyleen. They were living in Rochester, NY and we were living in St. Catharines, Ontario, south of Toronto (about 1967). FORTY YEARS is a long time but it is beginning to feel like yesterday.

I’m one of those Brownwood Refugees-----remember the hurricanes of ’61 (Carla) and ’83 (Alicia). My first month of college was started knowing my home since second grade had five feet of water in it. My Dad was working for Exxon. They tolerated the occasional rising water until 1983 when everyone had to move out. My sister, and only sibling, is the former Murty (Billie) E. Riley (REL Class of 1963). She married (June, 1962) Trent L. Campbell, of Baytown and also a Lee graduate. They moved to Germany in the early 70’s as missionaries and spent twenty-plus years there.

In the summer of 1990, Billie and I did a fast three-week tour of Germany trudging around with our backpacks having a blast! I even have a "real" piece of the Berlin Wall I chipped off. She was working for the Corps of Engineers in Frankfurt at the time. This was a real CHEAP trip. My round trip was about seventy-five dollars! I had the privilege of flying "stand-by" since my son was with the airlines at the time.

We received special "flag orders" she had applied for which allowed us to travel on the ONE road you were suppose to be on to get to Berlin from West Germany. She was driving………..it was about 4:00 in the morning and we were in southern East Germany on the WRONG ROAD. Of course, the Wall had just fallen in November 1989. Billie could speak fluent German. All we saw on the road that day were hundreds of the little German cars headed for West Germany. We even stopped to get gas. Being a bit anxious and nervous, while using the toilet there, I pulled too hard on the chain for the water tank above and accidentally broke it! Just paid my 10 or 20 pfennigs and left very quickly. Too bad for the unfortunate ones left standing in line behind me---what could I do! My sister always impressed the Germans with her eloquent deliverance of the language. She freely conversed with them as needed and we continued our journey. I felt we would surely be caught by the "Gestapo" and held hostage or "tarred and feathered". Nevertheless, all was okay……….we made it to Berlin. Pink Floyd was there with his crew setting up the stage for a performance near the Wall. What a trip! Well………..enough of some of the exciting moments of that little adventure! Sorry, that story is out of chronological order! I’ll try to do better with my "sequence of events." Meanwhile, I’ll regroup my memories and return to 1960.

I worked in Houston for a year after graduating from REL---saved money for college. Attended Abilene Christian University 1961-1965. While in college I worked in the Registrar’s office (got to register early for the "best" classes), was secretary for head of Education Department, and was a "room checker" in the dorm. My first trip out of Texas was the summer of 1963. I was hired as a church camp counselor in upstate New York, near Syracuse----Mohawk River Valley area. I had just finished getting my Red Cross life saving certificate while taking an advanced swimming course for P.E. credit at ACU. Consequently, I played Lifeguard for the kids----swimming in icy river waters that summer. We had a new group of kids every two weeks. I spent June, July, and August there. The World’s Fair was in Flushing, NY (Long Island) that year---got to go there for a few days when camp ended in August and see several other sites in that part of the U.S.

Graduated from ACU in August 1965, and began teaching in Lubbock, Texas, August 1965. While a senior at ACU, I met my husband-to-be, David. He was from Hot Springs, Arkansas, but finished high school in California, spent about 4-6 years in the Navy then started his college education. When we met, he was finishing school in Lubbock. He had been at ACU, but we didn’t know each other then. We were married December 20, 1965. The following October 1966 we moved to Ontario, Canada. He was a minister for churches in Ontario and Alberta, Canada AND we did "render unto Caesar" ------paying some pretty high taxes to Canada while living there. Of course, the more government does for you, the more you pay for their services-----BIG SUBJECT, right? I enjoyed the culture and loved the people. The winters were FUN in Alberta---many times –30 to –50 degrees. Had to make just a FEW adjustments in your daily activities!!!!! Our son was born Ontario----had super doctors. We lived in several places including Ketchikan, Alaska (80-83) simply beautiful, loved it! We moved to the Dallas/Fort Worth area in 1974. My husband spent several years as a minister---and was in insurance for a while.

We have two children---a son (33yrs.) and daughter (28 yrs.). Both live in the DFW area. I have been a widow for four years. David had a 3-year bout with colon cancer and died on June 15, 1997 (Father’s Day morning). We had 30-plus great years together. He was at home at the time of his death and had a peaceful transition into eternity. Yes, I truly believe we are eternal beings having an earthly experience!

Auschwitz was a two-hour drive from our location. I visited this concentration camp twice---it is difficult to describe the feelings I had as I walked on the grounds and went inside the buildings where this horrible event took place. I went back to Poland in September 1997 to teach again in the same setting.

During the summer of 1998, I was in Moscow for a month teaching English. I traveled each day on the unique Moscow subway (the Metro) to the teaching college---a great experience with LOTS of stories. In November, I returned to conduct workshops for public school teachers in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia (about 1 ½ million people).

This was with a program called Character Counts. Of course, the economy took a sudden plunge in August 1998. (Things were a little less expensive and it was a bit more dangerous). It is amazing how well you can communicate even when you don’t know much of a language. I had fun shopping for groceries, etc.

Kazan, on the Volga River, is near the Ural Mountains, a "smidge" west of Siberia. The train ride from Moscow to Kazan that November was neat. It reminded me of some of the scenes in the movie Doctor Zhivago. A lot can be said about the Russian people----their history is "something else" to say the least.

In Kazan, a predominantly Muslim country, we were treated very kindly, still having to be alert and cautious. The news media interviewed us and produced a report about the seminars on their national TV. The administrators at an area teacher’s college planned and presented a special musical for us-----they were so gracious and hospitable. Those people are eagerly searching for a better way of living than what they have experienced throughout the years. However, consider an informative article in the May, 2001 issue of Atlantic Monthly entitled "Russia Is Finished". The "powers that be" have their own special agendas.

Thank you for overlooking any apparent comma splices, split infinitives, run-on or "run-off" sentences, subject-verb disagreements, dangling participles, over-use of personal pronouns, annoying use of alliteration, and any other obvious grammatical errors. (Yes, I still like to insert a comma before ‘and’------ after words in a series. I think someone changed the rules recently.) Just trying to "communicate" as fast as I can-----that’s my excuse! Re: the MATH discussions-----the last half of Algebra II was NO FUN! (Mrs. Barbour) That is all I have to say about it for now. (Bad Memories)

Wow! Did this turn into a novel or what? I’m thinking about calling Chapter 2, "Have Shoes, Will Travel". Question. … "And just whose unclaimed shoes were left in the Brig and why?" Clue: I absolutely loved marching and playing my bugle and didn’t want to "sit-out" at the football games!!! Brigadiers, remember our marching downtown in hot, humid Houston in our wool uniforms.

One of the girls on bells was absent and I had to "fake" playing the bells. Who caused that problem? What a hoot! AND for some unknown reason I was elected President of the Future Nurses Club my junior year----I am intrigued by the field of medicine, thoroughly enjoyed the club, but----never became a nurse. However, I deserve an honorary doctorate in that area---lots of experience caring for cuts, bruises, breaks, ER trips, you-name-it.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES! Have a spectacular summer! (By the way, RILEY is the correct spelling-----it’s different in each yearbook.) Looking forward to our continued communication with each other!

Betty Riley Bryant