I have known Betty since we were in about the 9th grade. It seems she was always into something. She was full of life. I remember at high school dances she was the best and most energized dancer I have ever seen. Before the night was up she was covered with perspiration. She had her own beat.
Her husband Larry died several years ago. His body is at Kennesaw Memorial, in a drawer overlooking the pond. Not long after he died I rode by and I saw an elderly man with the palm of his hand on Larry's marker and he was crying.
Betty was cremated. The obituary said the memorial service would be private.
I ran into her at Krogers a couple of years ago and she had changed. She seemed embarrassed – that was not like the Betty I knew, who didn’t know what embarrassment meant.
We called her “Mountain Woman”. One look at her and you would do like we did, think of her as Mountain Woman. I think Larry Holcomb christened her with that name.
Mountain woman reminded me of a woman I met during my semi-hippy days. I was helping a friend dig out a spring for a water supply. Another guy and I were down in a hole about 7 feet deep digging. The friend's daughter and a mountain woman came up and asked what we were doing. We said, trying to dig out a spring. The ground was tough digging, very rocky. The mountain woman asked could she dig a while. We laughed and said OK. We climbed out and she climbed down, barefooted and proceeded to use the shovel barefooted, digging into that hard, gravelly ground on a cold day. Whew. She way outdid us.
ReplyDeleteMike D
Mike,
ReplyDeleteAs I told Janice today, it is hard to believe somebody so lively is just a pile of ashes now.