Published: October 09, 2009 08:29 pm         

TRIBUNE-STAR EDITORIAL: Mother Bettie touched the lives of many in the Wabash Valley

Bettie Davis took time to smell the roses during her remarkable 88 years of life. Her endearing spirit was a garden of inspiration for the Terre Haute community.

“Mother Bettie,” as many knew her, died Oct. 3. At her birthday party seven months earlier, this petite lady with a commanding presence reminded friends that — when she passed away — she did not want flowers at her memorial service. Bettie preferred they instead contribute to the Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church building fund. At that party last March, though, she accepted those blooming plants, saying, “Thanks for the flowers while I can still smell them.”

Bettie Davis served her hometown of Terre Haute in many ways. She was a civil rights activist, passionate historian and generous volunteer in a range of community organizations from the Foster Grandparent Program to the NAACP, the Sisters of Providence Anti-Racism Team, Girl Scouts, the United Way and Allen Chapel, among many others. Bettie’s resiliency, boundless energy and rich life experiences made her participation in any project an invaluable asset.

She lived through difficult eras, growing up in Terre Haute during the 1920s and ’30s, when Bettie and other black citizens lived in mostly segregated Terre Haute neighborhoods. Despite the social injustices, she maintained fond memories and a strong attachment to her 13th Street neighborhood, where the Booker T. Washington School and Booker T. Washington Community Center stand.

Her knowledge of local history, and the history of Terre Haute’s black community, was vast. But, perhaps most inspirational, was Bettie’s keen interest in young people and the future. At her 88th birthday party, Bettie said she planned to take a college drawing class, and finish her book “Between the Railroad and the River.” She had also enrolled in an early-childhood development course to improve her foster grandparenting skills, taken a computer class, and become an avid Internet researcher. E-mails from Mother Bettie became regular, welcomed sights in her friends’ inboxes.

She leaves a legacy of care, strength, heritage and fulfillment. Fittingly, during the Human Rights Day activities at Indiana State University a few years ago, Bettie was honored as an “Indiana National Treasure.” Terre Haute will treasure her work and her memory.