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| If you have any photographs, thoughts or memories to share about Bettine send them here. | ||||
| Dear Lawrence, … A few years ago, I interviewed Bettine in order to write a profile of her for our docent newsletter at the Botanic Garden. Read the profile. Bettine was a mentor to me and many other docents. Her intelligence, perseverance and personal warmth grabbed me from the moment I met her. She never let her illness define her. I was so happy to see her singing and dancing in the SB Revels this past Christmas holiday, her eyes sparkling with happiness. I will try to keep that image of her forever in my mind. The Botanic Garden will be the worse for losing her, but the docents will strive to keep her memory alive with the new docents joining the ranks. With much love, Christine and Stefan |
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December 17, 1936 |
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October 27, 1968 |
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June 3, 2010 |
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| Dear friends, I am not up to the task of writing about Bettine but many of her friends have said what I feel better than I can so here is some of what they/you have written.
"I quote others only to better express myself." Michel de Montaigne |
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| So beautiful, so brave, so full of love and light, So full of music, and laughter, and keen intelligence I see her bright eyes and bright smile in my mind’s eye And I know her spirit is soaring beyond the sky. I can’t imagine the depth of your sorrow, Lawrence, but know that it is shared. Bettine will be deeply missed by so many. Bettine had an amazing life, lived In a strong spirit, now free of physical suffering. May she know peace and light. And peace to you, dear friend, with prayers from the heart~~ Love, Colleen |
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Lawrence, Thank you. For letting me know. For your friendship. Most of all for your
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… thank you for sharing all the information and the beautiful pictures of Bettine, especially the painting of her amidst the flowers and agleam in the sunlight that so clearly came straight from the heart. |
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| Hello Lawrence,
… Here is a simple prayer I am praying for you both. Dear Jesus, Help help help help help. I place into your loving hands my dear friends Lawrence and Bettine. Please help them to feel your love and presence in this stressful time. Please help the doctors, nurses, caregivers and all involved—give them wisdom, insight, empathy and skill in helping Bettine fight this. Give Lawrence strength and courage to be able to be there for Bettine, and help their friends know how to best care for them both. I ask you to send your love and light and health and strength to bless them and care for them, because I know you love them even more than I do. Thank you. Lori |
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| … It was good you sent information on her condition, and I read it while thinking of the photos, and of the beautiful paintings of her. She seems so vital, alert, beautiful and intelligent in them that it is difficult to match the diagnosis with the person. Looking at the paintings, I was reminded of the beautiful painting Lawrence made of her dancing in your Laurel Canyon living room at twilight. It was a poetic image! …
Gail
Dear Bettine, |
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| Dear Lawrence, … Bettine was an integral part of so many groups of people. As if she were the center of a huge wheel with so many spokes, each leading to a different group, community or cause. She dedicated her self to her students, friends and family and also to the causes in which she believed. She walked her talk, gracefully and with a very effective, quiet determination. I was thinking today, about how amazing she was at communicating. No matter who she came in contact with, no matter what their age, interests or social background, she had the most incredible way of drawing them in, making them feel so comfortable, and involving them in interesting conversation. In all the years I have known her, I don't think that I ever saw, or heard her express that she was intimidated by anyone, or anything, ever ! She was always moving forward, no matter what life threw at her ! It seems to me, that she knew no strangers, was always warm and welcoming and she had one of the most radiant smiles, ever !! One of my very fondest memories of Bettine, is from the first time we met. You and I had just become acquainted at a garage sale, in your old Laurel Canyon neighborhood, and you thought that she and I should meet. We walked the short distance, up the hill to your home. It was summer and we were sitting in the back yard, sipping her delicious, home made lemonade. Suddenly, there was a downpour and without a word, she and I jumped to our feet, ran out into the rain and started to dance with our faces to the sky. She never lost her sense of childlike wonder about the world. Such a great quality ! She will be greatly missed, by so many people. More, perhaps, than you will ever know. With great love and sympathy, Piper |
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Dear Lawrence and Bettine, |
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Dear Lawrence,
… It is so incredibly difficult in this moment to know what to say, so I will tell you that Bettine has been such an inspiration to me as a woman, her strength of character, her social ideals, her musical genius, her incredible way with children. She has played an enormous role in so many people's lives, and the world is a richer place for her being in it. |
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| May you continue loving Bettine, and feel grateful for what the relationship with her taught you about love. She was a very special human being, one I enjoying meeting when you lived in Laurel Canyon. I’m grateful for having been acquainted with her and that you were together. As I see it just now, she is so relieved to have been able to zoom her eternally young spirit out of a body which could no longer keep up. She loved you, and she loves you still. I still see her dancing, this time without gravity, with joyous laughter, singing with heavenly strings. Gail |
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I love the photos and your paintings of her...the one of her surrounded by flowers, and the long-ago painting of her with the folk club. |
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| It was our privilege to be able to know Bettine and love her, she was a truly remarkable woman who was generous with her time and many talents, and I believe hers was a life well lived. I always felt so special when I was with her, she had the gift of making people feel important and valued. I will always treasure the times we spent singing together and sharing our lives.
Love, Lori (and John) |
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| Last evening the Santa Barbara Choral Society sang the wonderful spiritual "Precious Lord, take my hand" for Bettine. Tears in our eyes, we thought of her and sang to her … . She will be missed, and her voice, although silent now, will be remembered and missed in the chorus. …
Pam |
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| … I got to know her through rounds singing at Camp Harmony, and came to recognize her as one of the best singers in those sessions. When Bettine was there, I knew the rounds singing would be very good indeed, and that whatever part she was singing would be strong. I loved hearing her clear soprano voice soaring above all the rest of us low altos. She was one of the stalwarts of the rounds sessions, who could always be counted on to show up and to help us sing at our best. One year some of us got together and sang The Candlelight Carol by John Rutter, a lovely choral piece, and it was a delight to find others at camp that share my enjoyment of choral singing. Bettine played piano, which saved the piece - we could not have done any of it without her. …. She was an inspiration, a great singer, committed to musical excellence, and a warm funny kind person. Camp Harmony will not be the same without her. …
Deborah |
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| To have known her courage, and yours, is a great inspiration for all of us who acknowledge that there can be no love without the promise of grief and that Bettine's favorite song was CELEBRATE YOUR LIFE WHILE YOU LIVE IT, EVEN WHEN IT IS HARD TO DO.
Mette, with candles on Monday morning |
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| My condolences to you and to all of Bettine's family... I feel very honored to have known her - she was a very noble and sweet person, with great inner strength, who for 20 years, more than anyone else, could have been called the true "heart" of our dance community. My life was enriched for having had the honor of knowing Bettine.
William |
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| This makes my heart break and brings tears; I have always loved you both, and Bettine is one of the great women I think I have ever known. … you are both in our prayers, and I will be thinking about you daily. Love Bill (and Sandy and Ellie) |
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| … Bettine, I am sorry I could not speak to you in person as I felt I needed to express to you how much I have admired and loved you with your great combined passions of teaching, Native Plants of California, and the Botanic Garden. Not only have you done so much with all the programs you developed (with others) for the Botanic Garden but individually you have given so much to all the docents that were lucky enough to come under your special magical spell of making learning fun. I only wish I could emulate half of it. We learned such a lot about teaching and the Botanic Garden through not just the programs themselves but the way you taught them. Thank you so much. There are not many docents left from the 1990's now but I know I speak for all when I tell you that you were a hero (heroine) to us at the Garden at that time. …
Diana |
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Joyful loving life |
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| Death is nothing at all I have only slipped away into the next room I am I and you are you whatever we were to each other that we still are call me by my old familiar name speak to me in the easy way which you always used put no difference in your tone wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together pray smile, think of me, pray for me Let my name be ever the household word that it always was Let it be spoken without effort without the trace of a shadow in it Life means all that it ever meant it is the same as it ever was there is unbroken continuity why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am waiting for you somewhere very near just around the corner All is well Henry Scott Holland (1847-1918) -- Bev and Jerry |
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Labour is blossoming or dancing where Yeats You hang in and please let us know if we can do anything for you. |
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| My heart has become heavy, my legs do not carry me Which once were swift to dance, like young fawns. I often bemoan this, but what can I do? Be ageless? That, a mortal cannot become. Sappho Gene |
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