Betty Ford

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Betty Ford

Elizabeth Anne "Betty" Bloomer Warren Ford (born April 8, 1918) is the widow of former United States President Gerald R. Ford and was the First Lady of the United States

First Lady of the United States

First Lady of the United States is the unofficial title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the President of the United States, the title is sometimes taken to apply only to the wife of a sitting President....
from 1974 to 1977. She is the founder and former chairwoman of the board of directors of the Betty Ford Center

Betty Ford Center

The Betty Ford Center is a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center for adults in Rancho Mirage, California, United States, co-founded by former United States First Lady of the United States Betty Ford and Leonard Firestone in October, 1982....
for substance abuse and addiction and a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal.

in Chicago as Elizabeth Anne Bloomer, she was the third child and only daughter of William Stephenson Bloomer, Sr., a travelling salesman for Royal Rubber Co., and his wife, the former Hortense Neahr.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Betty Ford'

Start a new discussion about 'Betty Ford'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Elizabeth Anne "Betty" Bloomer Warren Ford (born April 8, 1918) is the widow of former United States President Gerald R. Ford and was the First Lady of the United States

First Lady of the United States

Betty Ford Center

Early life

Born in Chicago as Elizabeth Anne Bloomer, she was the third child and only daughter of William Stephenson Bloomer, Sr., a travelling salesman for Royal Rubber Co., and his wife, the former Hortense Neahr. She had two older brothers, Robert and William, Jr., and after living briefly in Denver, she grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city population was 197,800. It is the county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Michigan....
, where she graduated from Central High School.

After the 1929 stock market crash

Wall Street Crash of 1929

The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and longevity of its fallout....
, when Betty Bloomer was eleven, she began modeling

Model (person)

A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who poses or who is displayed for the purpose of art, fashion, or other product s and advertising....
clothes and teaching other children dances such as the foxtrot

Foxtrot (Dance)

The Foxtrot is a ballroom dance which is often said to take its name from its inventor, the vaudeville actor Harry Fox; however the exact origins are unclear....
, waltz

Waltz

The waltz is a ballroom dance and folk dance dance in Time signature, performed primarily in closed position....
, and big apple

Big Apple (dance)

The Big Apple is both a partner dance and a circle dance that originated in the Afro-American community of the United States in the beginning of the 20th century....
. She studied dance

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to Motion of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of Emotional expression, social social interaction or presented in a spirituality or performance setting....
at the Calla Travis Dance Studio, graduating in 1935.

When Bloomer was sixteen her father died by carbon monoxide poisoning

Carbon monoxide poisoning

Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs after the inhalation of carbon monoxide gas. Carbon monoxide is a product of combustion of organic matter under conditions of restricted oxygen supply, which prevents complete oxidation to carbon dioxide ....
, reportedly while working on the family car in the Bloomers' garage; whether it was an accident or suicide remains unknown. In 1933, after she graduated from high school, she proposed continuing her study of dance in New York, but her mother refused. Instead, Bloomer attended the Bennington School of Dance

American Dance Festival

The American Dance Festival is a six-week summer festival of modern dance performances, and a school for dance currently held at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina....
in Bennington, Vermont, for two summers, where she studied under Martha Graham

Martha Graham

Martha Graham was an American dancer and choreographer regarded as one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance, whose influence on dance can be compared to the influence Igor Stravinsky had on music, Pablo Picasso had on the visual arts, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture....
and Hanya Holm

Hanya Holm

Hanya Holm born in March 3, 1893 in Worms, Germany and died November 3, 1992 in New York City. She is known as one of the ?Big Four? founders of American modern dance....
.

Career

After being accepted by Graham as a student, Betty Bloomer moved to Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is one of the five borough of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.With a United States Census of 1,620,867 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles , Manhattan, coextensive with New York County, is the most population density county in the United States, w...
’s Chelsea neighborhood and worked as a fashion model for the John Robert Powers

John Robert Powers

John Robert Powers was an United States actor and founder of a prominent New York City modeling agency.In 1923, John Robert Powers founded a modeling agency that became the most famous and powerful in the industry....
firm in order to finance her dance studies. She joined Graham’s auxiliary troupe and eventually performed with the company at Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue , occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street , two blocks south of Central Park....
.

Her mother, now remarried to Arthur Meigs Godwin, opposed her daughter’s choice of a career and insisted that she move home, but Bloomer resisted. They finally came to a compromise: she would return home for six months, and if nothing worked out for her in New York, she would return to Michigan, which she did in 1941. She became the fashion

Fashion

Fashion refers to the styles and customs prevalent at a given time. In its most common usage, "fashion" exemplifies the appearances of clothing, but the term encompasses more....
coordinator for a local department store

Department store

A department store is a retail establishment which specializes in selling a wide range of products without a single predominant Merchandise#Product_line....
. She also organized her own dance group and taught dance at various sites in Grand Rapids, including to children with disabilities.

Betty Ford

Early life

Career

Marriages and family