Bette did not necessarily try to be the center of attention, but it some how seemed to end up that way. Maybe it was because she was six foot two inches tall and most of her life skinny by most people’s standards. Maybe it was the clothes she wore, or the sound of her voice. She did not like to hear the sound of her recorded voice and was somewhat self conscious about speaking in front of others. Though you would never know it watching her in a group setting. Maybe it was her smile (see the smiles photo elsewhere in the blog). I personally think you knew when Bette was in the room because she was confident, knew what she wanted, and had a good idea how to get it. All that other stuff did not hurt either.
You go to some parties and no one is eating the goodies. Not Bette, she would see the spread and say FOOD! And start eating. Then everyone else would join in. It became the joke no one was allowed to touch the food until she arrived.
She was not shy about going for what she wanted. We had seen Patrick Dempsey at several of the races we would go to the last few years. We would say hi or good luck when we could. There always seemed to be a crowd around him and his paddock. Last year at Watkins Glenn after the race she wanted to talk to him about racing. As per usual there were a lot of people waiting behind the roping separating the race team from the spectators. As we were walking by, his car came in from just finishing the race. Patrick got out of his car and was just taking off his helmet and gloves when Bette and I just walked past all the people around the roped off area and up to him. He had a concerned and surprised look on his face. That was until Bette put on a big smile said “it looks like you had a lot of fun out there”. Patrick’s expression turned concern to a warm and inviting smile as he talked about it. We introduced ourselves, thanked him for his time, wished him luck, and went on our way. There is a photo of Bette and Patrick someplace on this blog taken almost a year later.
It was always Bette and Jaime not the other way around. I did not mind this. B comes before J in the alphabet… Her strong personality could overwhelm some people. Over the past 30 or so years we both had our own specialties. I always felt she was smarter and she said I was. Between you and me (and don’t tell her this) I still think she was the smart one. Though there were times where I felt her common sense was a little weak. Like I might have had a little more “street smarts”. She was the artist and I put the book shelves together. We made a good pair. Where she was lacking I excelled and visa versa. I think that is one reason her death is so hard on me. I literally feel like half of me was ripped away. I have been told by several people this is now a good time to reinvent myself. I have no idea how to do that or what I would like to become. I just want my Bette back…
I want to end this on a lighter note so I will tell you a story about Bette, myself, and William Shatner. Yes of Star Trek fame.
Long long ago in a far off land called Boston there was once a car show where William Shatner was going to appear. Well since we were both car buffs and Trekkies it seemed like a match made in heaven. Bette was driving a little blue sports car where the inside drivers side door handle was a pair of vice grips. We drove up to the valet parking gave the attendant her keys ant took the vice grips so they would not be stolen. We were in Boston after all. We hung around for a few moments to see where the car was being parked. By the way the driver’s side window did not go down either. The car went out of sight so we could only imagine the trouble the attendant had getting out of the car (remember without the vice grips the door would not open and the window would not roll down). The right side worked fine. We chuckled to ourselves as we walked up to the car show.
We checked out where and when Captain Kirk - I mean William Shatner would appear, then we went off to look at some cars. A little later we went back and got in line as it was still rather short. I took a bunch of photos of Bette and William Shatner shaking hands (can’t find those photos for the life of me). Then he went to shake my hand and I said something stupid like I was here just to take pictures of him an Bette. The I stammered and said something equally smart like “err um I like Star Trek nice to meet you“. We went off to do the rest of the car show. When we were finished we went back to see if William Shatner was still there. He was. And the line was very short. We got back in line. By now Mr. Shatner had seen hundreds if not a thousand people. I get up first so this time Bette can take my picture shaking hands. Bette gets up there to shake his hand again. William Shatner starts reaching out to shake Bette’s hand and he stops! He looks at Bette and says “haven’t I seen you earlier?” Did he remember me from before - No!
Like I said earlier - Bette and Jaime and you knew when she was in the room
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