From Denny: Betty Ford. What a lady. She hails from a time when people didn't hate each other in politics; they only disagreed. She was a great lady of humble attitude, practical in how she approached life and graceful in how she danced through life - no matter the obstacles.
Betty Ford was best known for her pioneering candor of bringing cancer out of the creeping shadows and on to the national stage. Back then absolutely no one talked about a cancer diagnosis because so often it was considered a death notice. She spoke about it publicly when it was also a social norm that doing so was in bad form.
Yet, it was her stalwart candidness that won her the support of women on both sides of the political aisle. Women started going in droves to their doctors to get breast cancer check-ups. Women picked up her call to actively address their own health issues rather than waiting to get patted on the head by a patronizing doctor to whom they would obediently acquiesce.
Betty Ford saw to it that the times were definitely changing if she had anything to do with it. My favorite photo of her was this one taken where she expressed to the White House photographer how she always wanted to dance on the table in the White House cabinet room. It's that same table where all the men of the Good Ol' Boys Network elbowed out women in the national leadership.
