ELIZABETH BLOOMER - AKA, BETTY FORD.....FIRST LADY, WIFE, MOTHER, TRAILBLAZER...........

Late breaking news at the dinner hour tonight is that former First Lady of the United States, Betty Ford, died in her California home this afternoon, at age 93.  Mrs. Ford, as a young woman was a student of the 20th Century dance impressario, Martha Graham.  Married and divorced at a young age, she married a newly elected Congressman from Michigan, Representative Gerald R. Ford, in 1948.  She was a hardworking wife and mother, helping her Congressman husband by steadfastly supporting him, and almost singlehandedly raising their five children; while her husband rose through the ranks of Congress, and became the House Republican Minority Leader, from 1965-1973.  In the midst of the Watergate scandal in 1972 - 1973, Gerald Ford, was thrust into the Vice Presidency, by President Richard M. Nixon, and an overwhelming bipartisan vote of the Congress, following Vice President Agnew's resignation in October 1973.  She served at her husband's side still assiduously caring for their growing teenage and adult children, until that fateful day, August 8, 1974, when President Nixon resigned and Vice President Ford, was sworn in as President of the United States.  As First Lady, Betty Ford set her own course in interviews and public pronouncements, one of the most renowned being her, "60 Minutes" interview statements about her teenage daughter Susan's potential sexual activities.  She was also a fiercely adamant supporter of Women's Rights and the Equal Rights Amendment, which she was also instrumental in convincing her husband, the President to support.  In their post White House Years she publicly admitted to alcohol and medical prescription addiction, after a family intervention, and an extended stay at the Eisenhower Medical Center, in Palm Springs, California.  Following her rehabilitation, she founded the Betty Ford Clinic to treat alchol and drug addictions / dependencies.  More than thirty years later, it thrives as a premier rehab treatment facility, which many well known stars and celebrities have entered through the years.  She made her mark on the role of American First Ladies in this fifty year span of history, and the societal mores and values of current times.  And she will be remembered for taking a new, more blunt, forthright, traiblazing approach to being First Lady of the United States..........Fr.  Troy