Betty Midkiff

1. What year were you born?

I was born in 1930.  January 8th, 1930.

2. What is your most vivid memory?

Well, I guess the birth of my three sons. My oldest son is named Kenneth Clark Jr., we called him Clark and I don’t know how many people asked me if he’s named after Clark Gable and I said, “No, he’s named after his dad.”

3. What are the big world events that you remember occurring throughout your life? How did they impact/shape who you are today?

Well, one of the things I think was World War II because my dad had been in World War I and my husband was in World War II and I had just prayed for, well my oldest son is 65 now but they would never have to go to war. Well, maybe they made me a believer that good things happen in life, most of the time.

4. What dreams and goals did you have for your life? How did they change?

Well, I wanted to be a school teacher. I just didn’t think there was anything in the world like being a school teacher. And I’ll tell you something, I found out it’s a hard job. Because you’ve really got to put a lot of time and effort into lesson plans and all so that when you get to class it’s all ready. You don’t give the kids time to get wild. I can’t say that they [her goals] ever changed. Of course, I just hoped and prayed all the time that my sons wouldn’t have to go to war, that’s one of the things, you know, when we had three sons my husband said,”You know I don’t want to have anything but boys.” and I said,”Why not?” and he said,”Well you’ve got to worry about girls getting pregnant out of wedlock.” and I said,”Let me tell you something, who gets those girls pregnant?” And he said,”That’s a good point.” But anyway, we had a good long marriage. We got married in lexington, because I was still in college.

5. How did you decide what you wanted to do with your life? How do you feel about that choice?

I always, before I ever started school, I wanted to be a school teacher. And my sister and I, and some of our neighbors would play school all the time. I just thought it was so wonderful to be a school teacher. I didn’t realize what hard work it was. Because it takes a lot of planning and all to keep kids interested. I taught 7th grade, you know that building across the street? That’s where I taught. And they tore that building down, when my sons graduated from high school, they graduated in that building. I had a special feeling with that building. I haven’t regretted becoming a teacher, and I have 3 sons who didn’t become school teachers but they’re university professors. One of them is a vice president at Virginia Tech, but let me tell you something. When you go to college work hard, there seems to be all kinds of money out there. All my sons have PhD’s and somebody asked me,” How did you pay for all of that?” And when you have smart children they’ll get scholarships to go to graduate school.

6. What is the best compliment that you have ever received?

I think maybe the one that I was telling you about this kid coming, and he was visiting somebody here and he came by to see me and he said,”Aren’t you the woman who taught school across the street.” And I said,”Yes.” And he said,”Well let me tell you something, you made me learn to read. I had never read a book before.” And I said,” Did you do book reports?” And he said,” Yes, I copied them from somebody else. But we read The Light in the Forest and I have become a person that reads all the time now. And he was just thanking me for making him read and how i changed his way of thinking about reading. Yeah, I thought good heavens in all my years I think that’s the best compliment I’ve ever got.