Sunny Florida
Betty spent a year in high school, but dropped out before long, an indifferent student. Because of her asthma, she spent winters in Florida, hanging around the beach and waitressing to support herself. It was in Miami that she met Major Matt Gordon, a young pilot and member of the Flying Tigers. There's some disagreement as to whether Matt and Betty became engaged (she certainly claimed they were. And he introduced her to his sister so they could begin a correspondence. He gave her a watch as an engagement gift.) She was in Medford when she heard that he had been killed on his way home from the war in the Pacific Theater in a telegram from Matt's mother. Curiously, Beth asked his family for some money so she could go out west and start a new life, a move that may seem scheming, but could have been made out of desperation. In 1943, all of nineteen, she decided she would join her father in Vallejo, California. She needed a change from Medford and Florida, where all she could think of was Matt. It would be better for her health, she reasoned, and then she would be closer to Hollywood. Maybe she would get discovered.
posted by kuaptic. @ 8:20 AM
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