Dear Grandkids,
As you know, today is Bett’s 90th birthday. I wanted to thank ya’ll for helping Gus (Great Uncle Scott) and I celebrate our Mom’s big day this past Saturday. And I wanted to remind you of a few things that were said on Saturday just to help you (and me) remember them – and especially to remember some things about her.
Here is some of the “Bett Trivia” that I shared with everyone in the form of questions…
- What was the name of her pet duck when she was a child? Quackie
- She spent most of her working career as a teacher. But what did she aspire to be when she was growing up? A movie star, a nurse, and a journalist
- Who was her favorite movie star? Tab Hunter
- What famous artist did she live next door to and play with while growing up? Bob Timberlake
- What famous rock and roll singer did her physician father give a shot of penicillin to (in the buttocks) back in the mid 1950’s? Elvis Presley
- What college did she want to attend and got accepted to but her parents would not let her go to? UCLA
- What college did she start at? UNC-G
- What college did she finish her degree at? University of South Carolina
- How many times did she travel to Paris? 18
- How many continents has she visited? 6 (not Australia)
- How many countries has she traveled to? 48
- How many cities has she lived in? 5 (Lexington, NC, Greensboro NC, Columbia SC, Aiken SC, and Chapel Hill NC)
- What was the name of her first German Schnauzer? Chivas (nickname Sheeby)
- What was the name of her last German Schnauzer? Mandy
- What was her favorite name for the male species? Charles (Both her husbands were named Charles and her first born (moi) was named Charles)
- How many children does she claim? 4. Grandchildren – 5. Great-grandchildren – 10
- How many presidents has she lived through? 15 – starting with FDR
- What is her favorite sport to play and watch? Tennis – one of her all time favorite players is Andre Agassi
- If $1000 had been invested in IBM stock on the day she was born what would it be worth today? About $200 million
Here are a few other Bett facts that you may or may not already know:
- She grew up in Lexington, NC. Daughter of Mickey and Anel Block. She was known as Betty Block.
- She (and therefore we) are descended from Eastern European Jews
- She had an older sister Beryl and a younger sister Dee.
- She met my Dad (Charles Reyner) when she was attending The University of South Carolina in Columbia. They married in 1957.
- They were together for about 6 years. After they split up, my Mom, my brother and I moved to Aiken, SC where she taught French at Aiken Hight School. She did this for several years and then later worked as a social worker for Vocational Rehabilitation.
- She remarried in 1976 to Chuck James – this is how I became a step brother to Chuck’s two daughters Becky and Libby.
- In 1977 they moved back to Lexington, NC where she worked at North Davidson High School teaching French and sometimes Spanish.
- When they retired they moved to the Chapel Hill, NC area in 1999 so that they could root for Chuck’s beloved Tarheels.
- She has had marvelous health for 90 years. She just had knee replacement surgery earlier this year. But up until her knee starting bothering her you would find her most mornings playing tennis with a group of friends.
- She loves going to movies and plays even still – often visiting the theatre in Chapel Hill and DPAC in Durham.
The other thing I want you to always remember about her was something that Christy said well at the party: She loves people and she loves places.
Places – I mentioned above that she has been to 48 countries. Ask her sometime about her adventures to Antarctica or Vietnam, or India, or Russia. Her love for travel was passed on and shared with her kids and her grandkids. Gus travels for a living as a flight attendant and I have been to even more countries than she has been to. And she took each of your parents (Christy, Scott, and Tucker) on trips to Paris and New York City when they were teenagers and they have already done much more traveling than most people will do in a lifetime.
People – She has an unstated goal to make every person that she comes in contact with a friend for life. As a result she has friends all over the world. There are people that she met briefly on some of her travels that she has stayed in contact with for decades. She befriends people easily by doing something that comes natural to her (but which feels so un-natural to most people). She knows how to ask questions that communicate genuine interest and lets people know that she really wants to get to know them. I have no doubt that you have been on the receiving end of some of her questions.
Bett has been a GREAT great-grandmother. An awesome grandmother. And a wonderful Mom. She is one of the kindest, most generous people that I know. She has had an incredible influence on my life and I am so grateful that she is my mom and your great-grandmother. The world is definitely a better place because she is in it. I’m already looking forward to 10 years from now when we can celebrate her 100th birthday. Perhaps we can all gather in Paris for the fete.
Never forget that you are very loved!
Pop Pop