[P-Marlowe]

She was an inspiration. God bless her, and rest her soul.

She was?

From Yahoo News:

[Betty Ford] mused that living together before marriage might be wise, thought women should be drafted into the military if men were, and spoke up unapologetically for abortion rights, taking a position contrary to the president's. "Having babies is a blessing, not a duty," Mrs. Ford said.

[del4hope]

If they are such a blessing, then why kill them?

I am beginning to think that our presidents are not the source of this nation’s problems, but that it just may be the influences of their liberal wives.

[BykrBayb]

She was an inspiration. God bless her, and rest her soul. ~ BykrBayb

She was? ~ P-Marlowe

Yes, she was.

Because of strong disagreements I have with her, I intended to leave my comments brief. While I don't find a memorial thread the appropriate place for highlighting someone's faults, I also had no intention of singing her praises. Since you devoted so much time and bandwidth to the issue, I'm compelled to tell you a little bit about why I left a kind remark on her memorial thread.

She inspired me and some of my family in ways too private to discuss here. (Yes, I see the irony in that statement, but I'm still going to maintain a measure of privacy. :) ) I will share that she was one of the inspirations for my outspokenness. Her outspokenness on the subjects of breast cancer and substance abuse saved countless lives.

Mrs. Ford was instrumental in removing the shroud of secrecy and shame surrounding cancer (especially breast cancer) and substance abuse. I'm old enough to remember when cancer of any kind was treated like a dirty little secret. We didn't examine our breasts or discuss the issue with our doctors, much less in public. We'd sooner die than discuss such things, and that's usually what happened.

There are a lot of other things I could say about Betty Ford that are not appropriate for a memorial thread, but I'm betting you covered all that last night while I slept. I haven't gotten around to reading all of those posts, and I'm not sure when I will. Busy day ahead. God bless you FRiend.

[Lazamataz]

She was an inspiration in the Recovery community. We (ex-) drunks and junkies thank her.