Biography: There will be a funeral service held at Ruebel Funeral Home on Monday, March 31,2014 at 2:30 PM followed by a graveside service at Mount Holly Cemetery. A reception will be held at 4:30 PM in Trapnell Hall. Betty Jo Hardin Pagan, 92, distinguished educator and children?s advocate, died March 25, 2014 in Little Rock. A former President of the Southern Association on Children Under Six (SACUS) , as well as its Arkansas affiliate (AACUS), Betty made a major contribution to the development of kindergartens, nursery schools, and Head Start programs in Arkansas and throughout the region. Her career as a teacher, university professor, and school administrator spanned five decades, enabling her to touch thousands of students? lives. Betty also achieved prominence as a horticulturalist. She chaired the Arkansas unit of the Herb Society of America and served on the organization?s national board. A certified Master Gardener, Betty lectured on landscape design and built a model herb garden in her backyard, yet another classroom for a woman who dedicated much of her life to helping others learn. Although Betty had a highly successful career, she gave her highest priority to the creation of a warm and supportive environment for her husband and sons. She excelled at every aspect of homemaking, especially cooking, decorating, sewing, and a variety of crafts, including ceramics and leatherwork. Of her many roles, she treasured most her place at the center of a loving family. Childhood and Youth: Betty during the 1920s and 1930s Elizabeth Josephine (Betty Jo) Hardin was born on May 31, 1921, at a house her parents leased on the Moss farm near the Arkansas River in Benedict Township, a rural area in the southwest corner of Faulkner County, Arkansas. She was the third child born to Susan Muriel Raney Hardin (1892-1958), of Providence (Faulkner County), a homemaker and former elementary school teacher, and Marley Alfred Hardin (1889-1959), of Red Hill (Faulkner County), a farmer. Betty Jo was named after both of her grandmothers. Her paternal grandmother was Elizabeth Ann (Betty) Smith Hardin (1862-1898), who married William Edmon Hardin (1853-1929) in 1879. Her maternal grandmother was Mary Josephine (Josie) Claunch Raney (1872-1946), who married John Franklin Raney (1861-1946) in 1887. Betty Jo never used her official name, even on her passport. Although family members generally called her Betty Jo, she shortened her name to Betty in early adulthood. Alf and Muriel Hardin, who married in 1916, raised a foster son, Charles Andrew Mencer (1911-1962), and five children of their own in addition to Betty Jo: Nola Magdalene Hardin Anderson (1915-2012); Willie Mae Hardin Murdock (1919-2007); Mary Juanita Hardin Whitaker (1923-2013); Marley Alfred Hardin Jr. (1924-1997); and Dolly Frances Hardin Byrd (1926-2012). Betty arrived later than expected, causing considerable anxiety. Her mother left this account of her birth: "On the first of May 1921 I began looking for the third baby to be born, hoping?as we had before?that it might be a boy. Long days and nights followed before it came. The ?Old Moss Place? was a lonesome, out of the way, place and a heck of a place to be expecting a baby. Fifteen miles from a doctor. So on the very last day of May I felt as though I couldn?t endure another day of waiting. So Alf said, ?Let?s call Dr. [H.E.] Cureton [in Conway] and see if anything is wrong.? He called him about 7:30 and then went to see how his cotton choppers were getting along. He was gone an hour and when he returned, we could tell the call had been put in in time. Mrs. Harris, my old lifelong friend, had been with me three weeks looking after my little ones and doing the work in general. So Mama [Mrs. Jo Raney] and Mrs. Colay, another good old soul, came?as did the doctor?and at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday May 31st another girl was born. She was a cute little plump, black-headed girl, almost like the other two." Understandably, Muriel chose not to mention that Betty Jo experienced a difficult breech birth. The ladies in attendance feared that she might not survive the ordeal of delivery, but Betty pulled through. Blessed with a strong constitution, she lived another 92 years. In 1923 and 1924, the Hardin family lived on a rented farm, the Owens place, on the Perry County (western) side of the Arkansas River. Besides farming, Alf Hardin owned the Toad Suck Ferry that ran between Perry and Faulkner Counties. In 1924 the family moved back across the river to Faulkner County. Alf farmed near Dewdrop, and in 1927 he sustained severe losses in the great flood that inundated much of the Mississippi and Arkansas River valleys. The family moved first to Red Hill and then to Conway, where Betty started school in the fall of 1927. Betty had a trying time as a first grader. Her desire to understand that experience led her to study child development and early childhood education, thus shaping the course of her future career. She walked to school with her siblings but, since the first grade lasted only half a day, she had to walk home alone, past a house with large, barking dogs that terrified her. Her anxiety about the dogs interfered with her ability to concentrate at school. Reading proved especially difficult because books seemed like foreign objects. With so many young children to care for, her mother did not have time to read to Betty on her lap. As the quintessential ?middle child,? Betty received attention as a member of a group, rather than in the form of one-to-one stimulation, and she sometimes felt lost in the crowd. She tended to listen quietly instead of developing complex language skills. These problems made Betty acutely sensitive to both the emotional and the intellectual needs of young children. Betty?s early years had numerous bright spots, too. She enjoyed warm, loving relationships with her parents, siblings, and the rest of her extended family. Though a self-described ?Daddy?s girl,? she later became especially close to her mother and tried to follow her example. Throughout her life, Betty prized her ties to the Hardin and Raney clans and always looked forward to attending family reunions and holiday gatherings. Grandma Raney taught Betty to sew, which became one of her most prized skills. She was an expert seamstress, capable of making virtually anything, from beautiful shirts and dresses to quilts and decorative objects. Sewing brought out Betty?s creative side, revealing talents that led her to explore a host of other arts and crafts. Even in her final days, she kept her beloved sewing machine nearby, an enduring symbol of her grandmother?s legacy. In 1929 Betty and her family moved to England (Lonoke County), where her father rented a larger farm. The 1930 census for Gum Woods Township listed a 10-person household consisting of Alf, Muriel, their seven children, and a hired hand. In 1932, at the height of the Depression, Alf Hardin purchased a 3,500-acre farm adjoining the Arkansas River several miles east of Redfield (Jefferson County). The property, which Alf bought through the Federal Land Bank, had belonged to the McNeill family for almost a century and included a house built around the 1840s. Betty lived in this house, with its hand-hewn cypress beams, double fireplaces between rooms, and dogtrot central hallway, until she went away to college. The Hardin household included a revolving cast of lodgers and hired hands as well as family members. Alf had an eclectic agricultural operation. In addition to raising cattle and growing cotton, he boarded 100 mules for a government program plus a herd of goats that produced prescription-grade milk for a physician. Betty and her sister Willie Mae were the milkmaids. Their job was to milk half a dozen cows each morning before catching a 7 a.m. bus to school in Redfield. Betty graduated from Redfield Junior High at the end of April 1937. Her diploma was signed by the superintendent of schools, Edward B. Bryson, who happened to be one of the Hardins? lodgers. Betty then attended Redfield High School, where her curriculum consisted of English, World History, American History, Government, Civics, Economics and Sociology, ?American Problems,? Business Arithmetic, Algebra, Plane Geometry, General Science and Biology, Physiology and Senior Science, Commercial Law, Psychology, and ?College Work??a solid, liberal arts foundation for further study at a university. The highlight of her high school years was her election as Athletic Queen. She was nominated by her class but elected (or so she claimed) by her Grandpa Raney, who managed to stuff the ballot box by buying a fistful of tickets. Her coronation photo depicted a slender, beautiful brunette, clad in a floor-length satin evening gown and surrounded by the members of her court and the boys? and girls? basketball teams. College, Wartime, Marriage, and a New Career: Betty in the 1940s Betty left Redfield High School midway through her senior year, having earned enough credits to gain admission to college. She enrolled as a freshman at Arkansas State Teachers College in January 1940. Located in Conway, Arkansas, ASTC had been called the Arkansas State Normal School from 1907 to 1925. Betty?s mother had received her teacher training at the Normal School, so ASTC seemed a logical choice. While a student at ASTC, Betty lived in a dormitory during the week and spent the weekends with her Uncle Jim and Aunt Mary Hardin, who lived near Conway. She had a rewarding semester, taking three Home Economics courses--Foods, Clothing, and Elementary Design and Color?plus a couple of obligatory subjects, Freshman English and Physical Education. Much as she enjoyed ASTC, a visit with her oldest sister, Nola, a student at the University of Arkansas, convinced her that she should transfer to Fayetteville, where the College of Agriculture and Home Economics offered a broader range of courses in her field. Betty enrolled as a second-semester freshman at the University in the fall of 1940. She lived in the Women?s 4-H House and was invited to join the ?Rootin? Rubes? pep club, which was composed of seven girls from each of the sororities on campus, the 4-H House, and Carnall Hall. ?All decked out in new costumes of red velveteen skirts and white satin blouses, the Rootin? Rubes? was a ?lively and comely dynamo of pep which help[ed] the students support the University?s football and basketball teams.? Betty?s loyalty to the Razorbacks lasted a lifetime. She loved watching her alma mater?s teams on television, and she faithfully sent contribution checks to support the University?s programs. Betty pursued a challenging undergraduate curriculum. Extracurricular activities and an active social life evidently took precedence over her studies, however, for Betty?s 1940-41 grades contrasted sharply with the academic excellence she achieved later in life. As she matured, she gained a much greater appreciation for scholastic accomplishments, both as a means of creating opportunities for a better life and as a pathway to personal fulfillment. Once she hit her stride, Betty displayed a powerful intellect and set a compelling example for her sons. The outstanding record she compiled in graduate school more than offset her slow start as an undergraduate. The most important thing Betty did during her first year in Fayetteville was meet her future husband of almost 55 years, John Frank Pagan (1920-1998). A native of Strong (Union County), John was the son of George Franklin Pagan (1882-1947), a barber and farmer from New London (Union County), and Alice Agnes Johnson Pagan (1897-1972), a Methodist minister?s daughter from Lockesburg (Sevier County). George Franklin and Agnes Pagan, who married in 1918, had three children, John being the oldest. He skipped a grade in elementary school, enabling him to graduate (as valedictorian) from Strong High School in June 1937. That fall he enrolled at the Arkansas Agricultural and Mechanical College in Monticello (Drew County). A & M was a junior college in those days, so after two years of study, John transferred to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in the fall of 1939. His high school vocational agriculture teacher had whetted his interest in agriculture, and he had enjoyed his summer job at the U.S. Agricultural Adjustment Agency in El Dorado, so he decided to major in agriculture, hoping to land a job as a USDA county agent when he graduated. During his senior year (1940-41), John lived at the Future Farmers of America house on West Dickson Street, adjacent to the U of A campus. Betty lived a block away, at the 4-H House. On her first night at the University, in September 1940, John and a group of other FFA boys went to the 4-H House to check out the new girls. John and Betty were introduced, but he evidently did not make much of an impression. She did not believe him when he identified himself as a senior, for he ?looked about 15.? They became better acquainted on October 19, 1940, when a mutual friend, Thomas Brantley, reintroduced them on a train ride from Little Rock to Fayetteville after the Arkansas-Texas football game. Betty and John started dating regularly and especially enjoyed going to dances at the University field house and the student union. They heard Helen O?Connell, the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, and other travelling stars of the Big Band era. Betty had learned to dance at ASTC, and John had taken ballroom dancing as his physical education class during his sophomore year at A & M, so they knew how to cut a rug. They used to see the University?s president, J. W. Fulbright, and his wife, Betty, at the dances in Fayetteville and were impressed by the Fulbrights? kind treatment of students. When Fulbright entered the United States Senate, the Pagans became his loyal supporters, and Betty worked in his headquarters during his campaigns for reelection. John graduated from the University in June 1941 with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture degree. He got a job in Ashdown (Little River County) as an assistant county farm supervisor for the Farm Security Administration, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture which made loans to farmers. He met Betty?s parents for the first time that summer. She returned to the University in September for the 1941-42 academic session, and the couple maintained their relationship despite the long distance between Ashdown and Fayetteville. Betty continued to live in the 4-House, where she was joined by her younger sister, Juanita. Her grades improved as she moved deeper into her Home Economics major. For Betty and the rest of the students in Fayetteville, however, classes must have seemed of secondary importance as the nation mobilized to fight World War II. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, young Americans quickly realized that they lived ?in a fast-changing world, where the student of today is the soldier of tomorrow, where the future is a question mark.? One of those question marks involved Betty?s 21 year-old boyfriend, a prime candidate for the draft, which had been reinstituted by Congress in September 1940. John decided not to wait for his conscription notice; instead, on April 20, 1942, he went to Pine Bluff and enlisted as an aviation cadet in the U. S. Army Air Corps. He attended the Instrument Flying Training School at Goodfellow Field, in San Angelo, Texas, and the Advanced Instrument (Link Trainer) Flying Training School at Bryan Air Force Base near Bryan, Texas. In November 1942 he became a corporal and, later, a sergeant, serving as a Synthetic Trainer Operator (instrument flying instructor) at Goodfellow Field, home of the Air Corps Basic Flying School. Betty completed the school year and then took a leave of absence from the University in order to make her own contribution to the war effort. Like Rosie the Riveter (the iconic figure in Norman Rockwell?s 1943 Saturday Evening Post cover) and millions of other patriotic women of her generation, Betty worked in one of the armaments factories that produced the materiel necessary for the Allies? victory. She served at the Pine Bluff Arsenal, an Army facility opened in the spring of 1942. The Arsenal manufactured magnesium and thermite incendiary bombs, chemical munitions, and smoke weapons. Within a couple of years, the plant employed over 9,000 civilians, a majority of them women. On April 10, 1943, Betty received an award from the Arsenal?s commanding officer, certifying that she had ?contributed by loyal effort and efficiency, in winning the Army-Navy ?E? Award for Excellence in War Production.? In June 1943, Betty and John arranged to meet in Dallas, which is roughly midway between Pine Bluff and San Angelo, where John was stationed. He had already given her an engagement ring, and on the morning of Thursday, June 24, they bought wedding rings and obtained a marriage license at the Dallas County Courthouse. Later that day, their marriage was solemnized by the Reverend Dr. William Angie Smith, pastor of the First Methodist Church, a grand neo-Gothic church located at 1928 Ross Avenue, in downtown Dallas. On August 1, 1943, The Pine Bluff Commercial ran this account of the June 24th ceremony: "Mr. and Mrs. M.A. Hardin of Redfield announce the marriage of their daughter, Betty Jo, to John Frank Pagan, son of Mr. and Mrs. G. F. Pagan of Strong, Ark. The wedding took place June 24 in the pastor?s study of the First Methodist church of Dallas, Texas. Dr. Angus F. [sic] Smith officiated, using the double ring ceremony. Mrs. Smith and their son, Angus Smith, Jr., were the only guests. Floor baskets of white gladioli and greenery marked the place of ceremony and a satin prayer bench was used. The bride wore a navy blue butcher linen street-length frock with white accessories. Her hat was small with a shoulder-length veil, and her corsage was of gardenias. Mrs. Pagan is a graduate of Redfield high school. She attended Arkansas State Teachers? College and the University of Arkansas. Mr. Pagan graduated from Strong high school. He attended Monticello A. and M. College, and received his degree in agriculture from the University of Arkansas in June, 1941. Before entering the United States Army Air Force, he was connected with the Farm Security Administration in Little River county. After a short wedding trip, Mr. Pagan returned to San Angelo, Texas, where he is an instrument flying instructor at Goodfellow Field. Mrs. Pagan returned to Pine Bluff, where she is employed, and will join Mr. Pagan at San Angelo in the late summer." Betty resigned from the Arsenal and moved to San Angelo, where she obtained a job in the lab of Shannon Hospital, doing blood chemistries. She and John shared an apartment with another couple and then got their own house near the hospital. John commuted to the air base every day to work as a link trainer. In August 1945, the Army sent John to Atkinson Field, near Georgetown, British Guiana, to work on a hydroponic agricultural project at a base the United States had acquired from Britain under the Lend-Lease program. He remained in South America until early December. Meanwhile, Betty returned to Fayetteville to complete her junior year at the University. Her grades improved significantly. Predictably, her best subject was Tailoring, a craft that Grandma Raney had taught her to love. John?s 3 years, 7 months, and 28 days of military service in World War II ended on December 17, 1945, when the Army Air Force discharged him at Patterson Field, near Dayton, Ohio. He returned to Arkansas and resumed his old job in Ashdown in late January 1946. A few months later, the Farm Security Administration transferred John to Paragould (Greene County), where he and Betty rented an apartment at 403 West Court Street. The move turned out to be very important for Betty?s future because it gave her a chance to launch her teaching career. Lakeside 10 School District in Greene County needed someone to teach the fourth grade, and although the job paid only $250 for a semester?s work, Betty decided once again to follow in her mother?s footsteps. She accepted the district?s offer, simultaneously continuing to work on her bachelor?s degree by taking a correspondence course offered by the University of Arkansas General Extension Service. Thus began a pattern?teach by day, study by night?that Betty would follow for the rest of her professional life. At the end of 1946, John resigned from the Farm Security Administration, and the young couple moved to Little Rock, where they rented a house at 310 North Cedar Street in the Hillcrest neighborhood. John obtained a job teaching vocational agriculture to returning veterans at Joe T. Robinson High School in western Pulaski County, and Betty secured a position teaching the fourth grade at Robinson Elementary. Her salary for the spring semester of 1947 was $674.50. Despite the financial sacrifice that teaching entailed, Betty knew she had found her calling. Teaching ?can be frustrating,? she would later remark, ?but it does kinda get into the bloodstream. Guess I wouldn?t do anything else.? Betty took four more correspondence courses that summer and then returned to Fayetteville for the 1947-48 session so she could finish her bachelor?s degree and fulfill the requirements for certification as a high school teacher. She worked hard, earned good grades, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics degree on June 5, 1948. Betty returned to teaching in Pulaski County in the fall of 1948. For the next three years (1948-51), she taught home economics to ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade students at Fuller High School in Sweet Home. She also taught adult education classes, supervised student teachers from ASTC, and sponsored Fuller?s Future Homemakers of America chapter, which had over 60 members. Meanwhile, John continued his own teaching career at Mabelvale High School, also in Pulaski County. The Fuller years probably constituted the happiest period of Betty?s professional life. She developed close bonds to her students and their families, visiting their homes and sharing in the life of their community. Fuller introduced Betty to the most rewarding aspects of teaching. In later years, when she occasionally encountered the profession?s negative side, she drew strength from her fond recollections of the good years at Sweet Home. Even though Betty had her undergraduate degree, a teaching certificate, and a job she loved, she felt compelled to continue her education at the graduate level. To her, higher education amounted to far more than acquiring a credential; it was a life-long process and an essential component of personal growth. She enrolled in her first evening course at the Little Rock Graduate Center in the fall of 1949, followed by two more courses in the spring and fall of 1950. She took her last course there in the spring of 1980. Her graduate school transcript goes on for page after page, recording three decades? worth of effort to broaden her knowledge and sharpen her skills. While Betty and John were getting their teaching careers underway, they were also laying the groundwork for starting a family. In October 1949, they bought their first house, a small brick rancher at 1501 Fair Park Boulevard in the Oak Forest section of Little Rock. They were ready to make their contribution to the Baby Boom. Motherhood and Challenges: Betty in the 1950s Betty delivered the first of her three children?all boys?on August 4, 1951. Rusty (John Ruston) was born in the old St. Vincent Infirmary at 10th and High Streets in Little Rock. He received lots of loving attention from his proud parents. Betty took a break from teaching in 1951-52 so she could stay home with Rusty. She took countless photographs, recording each week of his childhood for posterity. They show Rusty as a newborn, as a toddler, as a little boy in a new Easter outfit on his way to church, as a beaming child surrounded by toys on Christmas morning, as a happy kid blowing out the candles on his birthday cake, which Betty had made from scratch. Throughout his childhood, he received lots of ?lap time? during which his parents read to him from Little Golden Books, instilling a lasting love of reading. John used to say that his favorite decade was the 1950s. Looking at the joyful faces in those Truman- and Eisenhower-era photos of the Pagan family, one can easily see why he felt that way. The period had its challenges, too. Like other young couples with a child and a mortgage, the Pagans had to struggle to make ends meet. John left public education from 1952 to 1957 to work as a salesman, first for a feed mill and then for an insurance company and an appliance store, trying to boost his salary. He also supplemented his income as an officer in the Arkansas Air National Guard. Betty returned to work on a part-time basis, teaching nursery school and child development at Little Rock Central High School from 1952-54. Sometime in the summer of 1954, Betty learned that she was pregnant with her second child. Needing more room for their growing family, she and John signed a contract in October 1954 to purchase a lot in the Sunset Heights addition of west Little Rock, where they planned to build a home. On January 24, 1955, Betty delivered Jim (James Frank) at the new St. Vincent Infirmary, located at Markham and Hayes Street (later renamed University Avenue). While she was in the hospital, she signed the papers to sell the house on Fair Park Boulevard. She and John moved the family to rented accommodation at 21st and Martin Streets until their home at 7218 Gable Drive was finished that summer. The Pagans? new residence was a half-brick, half wood, one-floor rancher with three bedrooms, two baths, an eat-in kitchen, a combination living room-dining room, a large screened-in side porch, and a single carport. It was Betty?s all-time favorite house?in part because she designed it herself. Starting with a floor plan she found in a publication, she worked with a contractor she had known since childhood, Austin McGlothlan, to adapt the plan to her family?s needs. She also undertook an extensive landscaping project, building a brick patio and planting shrubbery, fruit trees, and a magnolia that eventually would dwarf the house. Jim received the same lavish attention that Rusty had enjoyed, so Betty had her hands full at home. Nevertheless, she stayed active in the community through her involvement in the Alpha Xi chapter of the Epsilon Sigma Alpha service sorority. In November 1955, her photograph appeared in an Arkansas Democrat article about the sorority?s benefit bazaar at the Heights Theater on behalf of the Arkansas Children?s Colony. Betty served as publicity chairman for the group, which raised money for charity by selling baked goods and handmade articles for gifts. She subsequently served as treasurer of the organization and then, in what would become a familiar pattern, became its president. Betty and John completed their family on February 8, 1957, when she gave birth to Joe (Joe Dudley) at the old Baptist Hospital on West 13th Street in downtown Little Rock. With three children to support and a mortgage to pay, both parents had to serve as breadwinners. John returned to public education that fall, joining the faculty of West Side Junior High School, where he taught industrial arts and science. Betty found a temporary position at Pulaski Heights Junior High in the spring of 1958. She had hoped to resume high school teaching the following year, but Governor Orval Faubus and the Arkansas legislature closed Little Rock?s high schools during 1958-59 in an insane attempt to thwart desegregation. Fortunately, the Jeanne Anthony Academy, a private school in Hillcrest, had an opening for a fourth-grade teacher, and Betty secured employment there from 1958 to 1960. Despite having to work and care for three young boys plus her husband, Betty somehow managed to find the time to garden, make her own clothes, knit, and crochet. She bought pieces of leather from the Tandy Company and fashioned purses, moccasins, wristbands for lunch money, and wallets, all stamped with names and designs. She mastered ceramic-making, too, acquiring a kiln and firing Santa mugs and Christmas ornaments, which she painted, glazed, and gave as gifts. Her energy seemed boundless. The Fifties ended sadly for Betty, however. She received three severe blows in quick succession. In August 1958, her mother, Muriel Hardin, died after a long battle with cancer. Her father, Alf Hardin, died from a sudden heart attack just fifteen months later. Then, in late 1959, Betty developed major back problems, necessitating disk replacement surgery and a prolonged convalescence. As she healed, she took long walks with her children and contemplated her future. Rather than surrender to misfortune and despair, she reached deep inside her and found a source of strength. She never said what it was. All we know for sure is that she came roaring back, more determined than ever to leave her mark on the world. Ambition and Achievement: Betty in the 1960s Betty returned to Central High School in the fall of 1960. She taught home economics on a part-time basis in 1960-61 and full time in 1961-62. She realized that in order to get ahead in public education, she needed a master?s degree. John reached the same conclusion about his own career. Consequently, in the summers of 1961 and 1962, they loaded their cars with the kids, the cat, and as many household items as they could cram inside and made the trek over the mountains to Fayetteville. Rusty, Jim, and Joe remember those summers in Fayetteville as a special time?indeed, one of the best periods of their lives. The family rented an apartment on Williams Street from Betty?s cousin Aileen Hollingsworth and her husband, Arnold. While John and Betty were in class, the boys roamed the town, attended a school run by the University, played baseball, and swam. On the weekends the family watched movies at the 71 Drive-In, where the boys enjoyed riding a stagecoach and participating in mock hold-ups. Both John and Betty earned mostly A?s in their graduate courses. He focused on education administration with the goal of becoming a school principal. She concentrated on child development and family relations, a subspecialty within home economics that she now regarded as her true intellectual home. Betty received a major professional break in the fall of 1962 when she got a chance to originate her own kindergarten laboratory at Hall High School. As the founding director of the program, Betty wore two hats. She taught a group of five year-old kindergartners while simultaneously teaching a class of high school students who observed the children as part of their Child Development course. Betty found this challenging assignment tremendously exciting. She had the freedom to innovate, and she used her recent graduate training to formulate new approaches to learning. On September 9, 1962, the Arkansas Democrat ran a feature article on Betty?s plan to use the findings from a summer school nutrition paper to enrich her kindergarten curriculum. Her comments to the reporter about the value and methodology of teaching nutrition to young children provide a telling indicator of Betty?s fertile mind at work in this stage of her career: "Nutrition teaching can begin in nursery school or kindergarten. Though it is no place for 'nutrition facts,' through activities children can gain favorable attitudes toward eating and form good food habits during preschool years. This is the idea Mrs. John F. Pagan, 7218 Gable Drive, will use in nutrition teaching to a new kindergarten group at Hall High School this year. Mrs. Pagan is teaching child development to high school students. The kindergarten serves as a laboratory where the home economics students can observe as well as participate to better understand their classroom work. 'Interest of kindergarten children is keyed to their immediate environment,' Mrs. Pagan points out. 'But they can learn much about food habits by helping mother cook, playing house or store, playing with pets and going to market. At school they can grow vegetables in a garden, help prepare food for classroom tasting, taste raw and cooked foods for comparison or visit a farm or markets.' Each of these activities can be aimed at helping children understand that regular eating of certain foods helps them grow and keep well and strong. Such understanding can contribute to their liking and eating food they need, Mrs. Pagan explains." While Betty was trying out her fresh ideas in her Hall kindergarten laboratory, John was beginning a new career of his own. He received his Master of Education degree from the University in January 1962, culminating several years of evening and summer classes. He excelled in his graduate studies and was elected to Phi Delta Kappa, a national organization of professional educators. The advanced degree enabled him to secure an appointment as principal of Oakhurst Elementary School, starting in the fall of 1962. He would go on to head four more schools (Terry, Rockefeller, Parham, and King) during his two-decade tenure as an elementary principal. Betty made further progress towards her master?s degree during the 1962-63 school year by taking evening classes at the Little Rock Graduate Center. She returned to Fayetteville in the summer of 1963 to finish her degree. She passed her comprehensive exam for the Master of Science degree on June 24, 1963, her twentieth wedding anniversary. The degree was formally conferred in January 1964. In recognition of her outstanding academic record, Betty was elected to membership in Gamma Sigma Delta, the national honor society of agriculture and home economics. Now that Betty had her graduate degree in hand, she began to devote increasing amounts of time to professional organizations. Soon they became central elements in her life, bringing recognition from her peers, opportunities for leadership, and channels for disseminating her ideas. She served as president of the Pulaski County Pre-School Association in 1964-66, and in 1964 she also became secretary of the Arkansas Association on Children Under Six (AACUS). In January 1965, she became a member of Alpha Delta Kappa, an international organization of women educators dedicated to excellence. From 1968-70, she served as president of AACUS, and from 1969-71 she sat as member-at-large on the executive board of the Southern Association on Children Under Six (SACUS). Betty?s rise to regional prominence during the Sixties stemmed in part from her high-profile involvement in the Great Society?s Head Start program, which added major resources to early childhood education. In the summer of 1965, she supervised the Head Start program in the Little Rock public schools. Her success with that endeavor led to an invitation to teach curriculum development at West Virginia University?s Head Start teacher training workshops in the summers of 1966 and 1967. The following summer she became a consultant for the Head Start teacher training program run by the South Central Educational Laboratory in Austin, Texas. All of this Head Start activity gained her a network of contacts among early childhood educators from all over the South. Betty further enhanced her reputation by writing a steady stream of articles, position papers, and curriculum guides. In 1968, for example, the Southern States Work Conference published her piece on ?How Children Learn,? and in 1969 the Arkansas Department of Education published her position paper on ?Kindergarten in the Superior Elementary School,? which she wrote as a member of the Arkansas Task Force on Early Childhood Education. She felt excited and energized because she found herself at the center of a dynamic field. ?Never has there been so much interest and emphasis on children from so many disciplines,? she observed. ?Of course, I have always been totally committed to their importance, and it?s a real thrill to see everyone else get involved.? By the end of the 1960s, Betty had become Arkansas?s preeminent figure in early childhood education at the public school level. Next she set her sights on college teaching. In the spring of 1969, she taught an evening class, Introduction to Early Childhood Education, to students at the Beebe branch of Arkansas State University. She offered it again for a staff development program at the State College of Arkansas in Conway. Her classes were well-received, and SCA offered her an assistant professorship, starting that fall. She took a two-year leave of absence from the Little Rock School District and joined the faculty at SCA, where she taught Materials and Methods in Early Education, supervised pilot kindergarten sites in Little Rock, and undertook extensive research and writing. In the midst of all her professional activities, Betty managed to remain fully engaged as a wife and mother. She championed multi-tasking as a way of life. ?I hope you have enough to do to keep you satisfied,? she told a son who had just gone away to college. ?Don?t let yourself get too idle?that?s when dissatisfaction could set in. Take enough breaks to relax yourself but don?t get at loose ends.? Betty never found herself at loose ends. She seldom missed a son?s ballgame, school competition, Boy Scout ceremony, or church event. She prepared healthy meals and stayed up late to mend and iron her children?s clothes so they could go to school the next day looking their best. She monitored their report cards closely, frowning on B?s and reading the riot act if someone had the misfortune to bring home a C. Betty and John set very high academic standards for their sons, just as they did for themselves. The couple encountered a little adolescent rebellion from time to time, if the truth be told, but in the end all three sons decided to ?get with it? (a favorite expression of Betty?s). Education lay at the core of Betty and John?s value system, and they labored ceaselessly to communicate that message to their sons. Neither parent ever mentioned money when listing the goals of a life well-lived. Only two aims mattered to John and Betty. First, you should try to acquire as much education as you possibly can. Second, you should do your best to use your intelligence, training, and knowledge to reach your potential. The culture of the household was such that the boys knew they were supposed to produce a wall full of degrees (doctorates were expected from all three). But far more important was the realization that they had the freedom to study any subject they wished, for as long as necessary, at whichever university they desired to attend, regardless of the cost. Moreover, John and Betty would work overtime to pay for all of the boys? undergraduate expenses and help with graduate school, too, if scholarships proved inadequate. No children were ever given greater latitude to set their own course, a level of trust that, in retrospect, seems astonishing. As the boys grew, the need for more space became apparent, so in May 1964 John and Betty decided to move around the corner to a larger house at 621 North McAdoo Street. Betty would live there for the next 45 years, and the house would become intimately associated with her personality, interests, and lifestyle. It provided a venue for exercising her considerable creative talents. She was constantly engaged in some type of project: painting, remodeling, re-carpeting, re-upholstering, installing irrigation and drainage systems, laying bricks, building garden walls, constructing a deck, planting flower beds and shrubs. One seldom saw her outdoors without a tool in her hand. Betty loved to decorate for the holidays, especially Christmas. She filled the house with symbols of the season, many of which she had made herself, such as her ceramic Santa Clauses and the stockings she had sewn and labeled with each boy?s name. Every flat surface seemed to bear a team of reindeer and a sleigh, a Frosty the snowman, or a set of wise men. For Easter she hardboiled eggs, dipped them in dye, and arranged them in some of the colorful baskets she collected. At Thanksgiving she arranged gourds, pumpkins, and dried flowers, and she placed turkey-shaped salt and pepper shakers on the table. The table, of course, was the summit of Betty?s domestic domain, the place where all her homemaking talents reached their highest level of perfection. She owned at least 100 cookbooks and liked to experiment with new recipes, but the dishes most fondly remembered probably originated in her mother?s kitchen: pot roast with slow-cooked vegetables; fried chicken prepared in a flour-filled paper sack; pork chops cooked in a cast-iron skillet; round steak tenderized with an old horseshoe; cranberry salad made in a meat grinder; homemade soup and cornbread. For birthdays she always made a child?s favorite cake and let him lick the beaters. Thanksgiving and Christmas meals gave Betty a chance to go ?all out.? She set the table with her best silver, and she chose plates, napkins, and placemats that corresponded to the season. Starting the night before, she prepared the relishes, salads, and several types of cake and pie. The aroma of roast turkey or ham and her signature vegetable casseroles (green beans in mushroom sauce; yellow squash with onions) drifted through the house all morning, whetting everyone?s appetite and heightening the sense of anticipation. When the family finally sat down and John gave thanks, Betty always looked around her and smiled as if to say, ?this is the most important part of my life.? Zenith: Betty in the 1970s The upward trajectory of Betty?s career continued with her election as a delegate to the White House Conference on Children and Youth in 1970 and to the follow-up conference the next year. In the fall of 1970, Alpha Delta Kappa?s journal designated her as one of the organization?s outstanding members. In addition to being president of AACUS, she was a consultant to the Pulaski County Child Welfare Department and served on a host of committees: the advisory board for Pulaski County Child Welfare Day Care Service; the EARN Committee (a group working for legislation pertaining to early childhood education in Arkansas); the 4-C Committee (coordinating services for children in the state); and the Committee for Kindergarten Certification Standards of the Arkansas Department of Education. Betty?s output of scholarship in the early 1970s was staggering. She published ?Listening to and Talking with Children? and ?The First Week of School? (co-authored with Dr. Walter Hodges); training booklets published by the Child Development Day Care Resources Project, U.S. Office of Child Development; ?Perspectives on Infant Day Care? (edited with Richard Elardo); and several staff development modules for the Southwest Education Development Laboratory: ?Behavioral Objectives?; ?Measuring Teacher Expectations?; ?The Crucial Years?; ?Creating a Learning Environment?; ?Sensori-Perceptional Motor Skills?; ?Child Analysis?; and ?The Teacher as a Facilitator in the Learning Process.? In the fall of 1971, Betty moved from SCA to Little Rock Central High to direct Project ACT (Adolescents in Child Training), a demonstration and research project financed by the U.S. Office of Child Development. The project trained high school students and young adults to work with young children. Betty also taught Child Development and Early Childhood Education at Central and supervised the kindergarten. She enjoyed being in the classroom, but she still had higher ambitions. She had carefully built her reputation and felt ready to go after the top job in her field, the presidency of SACUS. Composed of more than 7,000 members in 13 states, SACUS was one of the South?s leading organizations devoted to children?s issues. Membership was restricted to people in medicine, education, and social work who dealt with children under six. Betty announced her candidacy for position of president-elect in February 1972. She won the election that spring, defeating Mrs. Lanell Rogers, of the University of Southern Mississippi, for a one-year term beginning in September 1973. Betty?s accomplishments did not go unnoticed by the administration of the Little Rock School District. In July 1972, the superintendent and school board promoted Betty to supervisor of all of the District?s home economics and kindergarten programs. Her duties included curriculum development, teacher in-service training, oversight of classes and laboratories in the city?s three high schools, and coordination of child-study projects. Besides giving her a significant boost in pay, this promotion meant a great deal to Betty because it enabled her to carry on the work of her friend and mentor Gay Gattis, a longtime supervisor of home economics for the District. The new supervisory position proved taxing. ?I had no idea that my job was so demanding,? Betty wrote to one of her sons. ?Every minute brings a new problem. It is interesting, and I hope I will soon get things under control so I can do some innovations I have in mind but so far it is trouble shooting. . . . The hours are long?8 to 5 p.m.?and so far I hardly have time to eat lunch.? Nevertheless, Betty continued to write, publishing ?Motor Skills?Too Important to be Left to Chance? in the SACUS journal Dimensions (March 1973) and producing three curriculum guides for the Little Rock District: ?Guide for Home Economics Education?; ?Adolescent Child Training Laboratory Manual?; and ?Early Education, A Guide for Teachers of 3 to 6.? AACUS acknowledged Betty?s many achievements by giving her its Outstanding Member award for 1973. By the end of the 1973-74 school year, Betty could sense the progress she had made. ?It has been a busy year, interesting and challenging,? she wrote. ?I have been able to bring about some changes that I have wanted to make for years but have much more to do. I am beginning to see some change in Home Economics? image?from domestic science to ?education for living.? It is a long, uphill climb.? She persevered, winning rave reviews from her boss, J.D. McGee, the District?s director of secondary education. His handwritten comments on one of her annual evaluations provide a good indication of the quality of her work as supervisor of home economics and kindergartens: ?very thorough? ?very positive attitude? ?puts in many extra hours? ?highly professional? ?encourages input from all groups? ?good departmental meetings?well prepared? ?has the respect of staff? ?very innovative? ?always involves teachers in decision making? ?very involved in classroom work? ?well aware of staff members? weak and strong points? ?very knowledgeable in area of curriculum and program content? ?works diligently to improve programs? ?very objective? ?uses staff expertise very well? ?good articulation in curricular offerings? ?keeps staff up to date? ?encourages proven innovative methods? ?very good at providing help to individual staff members? Betty?s 1973-74 term as president of SACUS also turned out exceptionally well, although she felt exhausted by the effort required to perform her SACUS responsibilities while also keeping up with her supervisory duties in Little Rock. ?I am traveling to a different state meeting every week,? she reported. ?I went to Kentucky week before last and Tennessee last week. I will go to South Carolina next week and Florida the week after. It is interesting but very wearing.? On top of all this SACUS activity, Betty served on the Governor?s Advisory Task Force on Early Development and Education in 1973-74. Betty did not slow down when she concluded her SACUS presidency. From 1974 to 1978, she chaired the organization?s Publications Committee, and in January 1975 she wrote another article for Dimensions, ?Teens Gain Parenting Skills in Child Development Laboratory.? She held several other leadership positions as well. In 1974-76, she chaired the Pre-School Committee of the Arkansas Council on Learning Disabilities; in 1975-76, she chaired the Arkansas Home Economics Association?s Committee on Child Development; in 1976-77, she chaired the AACUS Public Policy Commission, the AACUS ?Building for Children? Committee, and the Arkansas Home Economics Association?s Legislative Committee. She also served as a delegate to the American Home Economics Association?s national convention in Boston. In April 1978, Betty received SACUS?s Outstanding Member Award for Professional Service to Children and the Association. SACUS also made Betty a Life Member ?in appreciation for dedicated service and outstanding contributions,? the first such award in the group?s history. The Outstanding Member Award citation contains an excellent summary of Betty?s accomplishments: She has been a nursery school teacher, a kindergarten teacher, a trainer and supervisor in Head Start, an Assistant Professor in Early Childhood Education at the University of Central Arkansas, and since 1972 she has served as Supervisor of Home Economics and Early Childhood Education for the Little Rock Public Schools. In this capacity, she has developed an outstanding program on Parenting for the Little Rock School System which has promoted opportunities for coordination between the Early Childhood Program and pre-parental training. This program has spread throughout the Little Rock schools with teenagers working with children in all the elementary schools. She has been the recipient of a Research and Development Grant in Adolescent Child Training from the Office of Child Development as well as being the recipient of a Right-to-Read Grant for Early Childhood Education. Four years ago, she set up and now supervises a Model Program for four-year-olds in the Little Rock public schools. In addition, she has found the time to write several publications, one of which is SACUS?s own ?best-seller,? Perspectives on Infant Day Care written with Richard Elardo. As a member of many professional organizations, Betty?s record indicates that she has made significant contributions to each. In focusing on her role in SACUS, one can?t help but wonder how we could have done without her, for she has given unstintingly of her loyalty, her time and energy, her leadership and organizational abilities. She served as a Member-at-Large on the Executive Board from1969-72; then from 1972-75, she assumed the various roles of President-elect, President, past-President. In these roles her quiet, efficient behind-the-scenes leadership was evidenced many times. One example: the efficient move of the SACUS offices from Orangeburg, South Carolina to its present Little Rock location where it functions with ever-increasing proficiency in large part due to her organizational abilities and careful attention to detail. Betty?s influence again touched SACUS in another significant way when as President-elect she effected the conversion of the Newsletter to the quarterly journal, Dimensions. She hired the first editor of Dimensions and has worked closely with her to make the journal so professional and highly respected. She has served effectively on the Publications Committee and the Finance Committee from 1974 to 1977, and as Consultant to Development from 1975-1977 she was highly instrumental in stimulating the growth in membership experienced by SACUS during that period. Betty remained active in SACUS for another dozen years. She completed her last term on the Association?s board of directors in 1990 and then became a founding member of the SACUS Fossils, a society of past board members who served as a ?think tank? for the organization. Betty?s only complaint about her time-consuming involvement with SACUS was that it impinged upon her ability to engage in politics. ?Have been up to my neck in politics and am having a ball,? she wrote in January 1972. Her legislative work on child development issues during the 1970s intensified her longstanding interest in government and campaigns. She grew up admiring Franklin D. Roosevelt, and she remained a New Dealer in spirit throughout her life. She held progressive views and almost always supported Democrats, although she reserved the right to vote Republican if a Democratic office-seeker veered in a reactionary direction. Like many progressives, she backed Winthrop Rockefeller for governor because he promised to reform Arkansas?s corrupt prison system, a particular interest of Betty?s as a result of her foster brother?s murder by an escaped convict in 1962. Despite that tragedy, she steadfastly opposed capital punishment; in her view, executions only compounded the barbarity of needlessly taking a human life. Betty was a staunch feminist, though it is unlikely that she adopted the label. She supported the Equal Rights Amendment, which passed Congress in 1972 and fell three states short of ratification. The ludicrous objections raised by the Amendment?s opponents in Arkansas disgusted Betty, who believed passionately that women deserved to have every right and opportunity that men enjoyed. Betty?s own record of achievement demonstrated the stupidity of denying equality to women. Campaigns fascinated Betty, and she followed them closely. She clipped articles she found interesting, mailing some to her children and filing others for future reference. She studied candidates? records and supported the ones with the best policies on public education, honest government, and equal opportunity. Every election she displayed candidates? signs in her front yard, and she contributed regularly to campaigns and Democratic committees. In religion, as in politics, Betty favored a progressive approach. She was a traditional Methodist who embraced the Wesleyan principles of toleration and inclusiveness. To her, religion was essentially a gloss on the Golden Rule, not a club for beating people into conformity with a political or social agenda. She tried to teach her children to value diversity. When you encounter people whose looks or behavior differ from your own, she counseled, "Accept them and enjoy this experience! Just remember that they are basically the same as you are. It?s just the clothes and secondary responses that seem different. They have the same basic needs that everyone has. Give them the privilege of expressing themselves in their way and let?s hope they grant you the same." Betty enjoyed being part of her church community. She participated in its nursery school program for over twenty years. A faithful member of the Trinity United Methodist Church Altar Guild, she derived great pleasure from making Chrismons to decorate Christmas trees. Retirement, reinvention, and loss: Betty in the 1980s and 1990s Betty closed out the 1970s with another promotion. In the summer of 1979, the superintendent and school board appointed her director of Educational Services for the Little Rock School District. The job entailed supervising psychological and educational assessment, health services, social services, before and after school services, pupil accounting, and pupil personnel. These were important responsibilities, and the job paid relatively well, but the directorship took Betty away from direct involvement in early childhood education, where her heart lay. She gamely discharged her duties for four long years, earning positive evaluations, and then decided that she had had enough. John had retired from the District in June 1982, at the age of 62. Betty reached that age at the end of May 1983; after much deliberation, she decided to join her husband in retirement the following month. Betty?s retirement proved merely nominal, however, because she immediately set about the task of reinventing herself. Gardening was the new world that Betty decided to conquer, and she brought to this effort the same kind of energy and determination she had displayed during her rise to prominence in education. She had always liked horticulture, an interest she attributed to a combination of her farming background and scientific training. The program for a February 1994 flower and garden show explained why she got involved in the field: A strong familial influence from a planter father and an avid gardener mother, a liberal dose of academic science and an opportunity to consolidate and apply all of these factors has had an impact on Betty. She is interested in horticulture and landscape design, herbal study including growing and the use of herbs in the landscape. Laboring long hours, Betty transformed her backyard into a gorgeous space, filled with flowers, shrubs, and meticulously labeled herb beds. Scores of visitors, including a local television crew, came to see her model garden. Predictably, Betty sought ways to collaborate with others who shared her passion. She joined organizations of fellow gardening enthusiasts and soon rose to the top. She served on the board of directors of the Herb Society of America from 1988 to 1992 and chaired the Arkansas unit from 1989 to 1991. Reading her handwritten meeting agendas from this period, one can see her well-honed leadership style at work. She kept discussions on track by adhering closely to Robert?s Rules of Order while systematically calling on particular members for reports and commentary, making sure that everyone got a chance to be heard. The Herb Society undertook demonstration projects at sites such as the Governor?s Mansion and the Arkansas School for the Blind. The latter provided the subject for a story in the Arkansas Gazette on May 15, 1991. Beneath a photo of Betty in a magisterial straw gardening hat appeared this caption: Betty Pagan waters some Egyptian onions in the Garden of Exploration at the Arkansas School for the Blind. Pagan, a member of the American Herb Society, explained Tuesday that the Arkansas chapter of the Society maintains the garden, which contains culinary medicinal and fragrant herbs. Betty also organized Herbfest ?91, an event held at Second Presbyterian Church in Pleasant Valley, where members of the Society erected displays and gave talks aimed at raising public awareness of the value of herbs. Betty?s quest for knowledge about horticulture reminds one of her earlier efforts to learn all there was to know about child development. She filled bookshelves with gardening volumes and ventured far and wide in search of new ideas. In July 1992, she toured gardens in England as part of a group led by P. Allen Smith. She joined the Central Arkansas Horticultural Society and the Chenal Garden Club, which she served as historian in 1996-97. After receiving training from the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service in 1997, she earned her certification as a Master Gardener and participated in the group?s community service projects for the next five years. Indeed, service became the unifying theme of Betty?s post-retirement years. Besides her early childhood education and gardening activities, she worked on election issues as a member of the Pulaski County League of Women Voters. In October 1986 she received a certificate of appreciation from the League for being the best voter registration chair. From 1991 to 1994, she and John volunteered at the Shepherd Center, which offered classes for adults. She also served as a docent at the Arkansas Arts Center?s Decorative Arts Museum in the early 1990s, and at the end of the decade she received an award from the Retired and Senior Volunteer program of Central Arkansas in recognition for ten years of service. John likewise spent his retirement years in public service. He served on the education committee at the Shepherd Center and volunteered at the Centers for Youth and Families, where he helped edit the newsletter, Centerpieces. He also contributed his editorial skills to a weekly newspaper, the Redfield Update. In 1992, the voters elected him to the Pulaski County Quorum Court and reelected him in 1994. During his tenure on the Court, from 1993 through 1995, he served on the administration committee and sponsored numerous ordinances for improving county government. He did not seek reelection in 1996 because of failing health. After suffering from heart disease for many years, John died at home on March 14, 1998. He and Betty had been a couple since 1940, and she felt devastated when she lost him. She was just 19 years old when they met; she was almost 77 when he died. They had been partners in every phase of life. A gentle, kind man, John had provided the quiet strength and unfailing support that Betty had needed to sustain her. He had encouraged her to pursue her ambitions, had provided solace when she encountered obstacles, had given her and the boys his unconditional love. John was the indispensable man in Betty?s life, the single most important factor in her ability to have it all: a sense of personal fulfillment, a happy family life, a highly successful career. Now he was gone. The years immediately following John?s death were dark ones for Betty. She still volunteered occasionally and attended a few gardening functions, but the intensity of her involvement dropped considerably. She loved seeing her granddaughter, Elizabeth, and her grandson, Will, and she delighted in family occasions such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Her daily life was lonely, however. She needed novel challenges and a fresh set of goals. She took stock of her situation and, true to form, found a new project on which she could focus her energy and talent. Evening: Betty after 2000 Betty pulled herself out of the despair of bereavement by returning to an activity she had always loved: dancing. As we noted earlier, Betty and John had enjoyed dancing when they were undergraduates at the University. They continued to attend dances regularly after they moved to Little Rock, going with friends to the Tia-Wanna Club in West Little Rock and to holiday dances at the Riverdale and Pleasant Valley Country Clubs. Whenever Betty?s sister Juanita and her husband, John?s old Army buddy Hall Whitaker, would visit, the two couples would dance to ?String of Pearls,? ?Moonlight Serenade,? and ?In the Mood.? Betty could not recreate those special moments, of course, but she could at least enjoy the music and the memories. Shortly after the Millennium, Betty signed up for a series of dance lessons at the Fred Astaire studios in Little Rock. She made new friends and, with the encouragement of her instructors, started entering competitions. Her first contest was the Arkansas Dance Olympics, held in Little Rock in November 2002. That Betty would take up competitive dancing at the age of 81 should not come as a shock to anyone who has made it this far in her life story. Nor should the reader be surprised to learn that at the age of 82 she entered the Fred Astaire ?Memphis Mini Match? competition, or that shortly before her 83rd birthday she flew to Las Vegas to participate in the Fred Astaire Cross Country Dancesport Championships at the Luxor Hotel. Betty brought home a stack of plaques and blue ribbons from these competitions, and if there had been a Fred Astaire Dancers? Association, she surely would have won its presidency. Betty?s involvement in competitions tapered off in her mid-80s, but she continued to enjoy dancing on birthdays and other special occasions. She never lost her zest for life even as time took its inevitable toll. Proudly independent, Betty soldiered on at 621 North McAdoo Street until the house and yard became too much for her to handle. She had visiting helpers for a while and then, in January 2009, she decided to move to Pleasant Hills Retirement Center in west Little Rock. In late September 2013 she relocated to Fox Ridge at Chenal, where she received excellent and compassionate care until the day of her passing. Betty had a long and full life. As a loving wife and mother, she provided a nurturing home for her family; as a distinguished teacher and scholar, she contributed significantly to the advancement of early childhood education and horticulture; as an effective leader of several organizations, she brought people together and helped them achieve their goals. Talented and resilient, Betty made the most of her opportunities. We honor her legacy and pay tribute to a life well lived.