Something important happened to Betty while working at Carter Carburetor. She met Charlotte who also worked there. Betty says, “Charlotte hadn’t turned 21 yet, and I was 32 at this time. We ended up having quite a life together.”
I wondered how 21-year-old Charlotte got on at Carter Carburetor in 1969?
“She came up from Bismarck, Missouri and was living with her brother who was a Dellwood cop. Since they were hiring due to the Vietnam War, she was able to get a job. She sat behind me. She was a quality control inspector, sat behind me, whispered in my ear, counted the freckles on my ear, and enticed me to pay attention to her, which I did. Eventually, Charlotte and I bought a house.”
Below is another view of Carter Carburetor, where they met.
“Over time, we had some friends who wanted to buy some acreage and start a commune – bad idea, guys, bad idea! So, we bought 47 acres. Charlotte, in the meantime, did not work at Carter Carburetor anymore. She worked for the Journal newspaper and was the editor of the Fenton paper. She then started one in House Springs and then Pacific. I think she had four papers before she was done.”
“House Springs is a very rural area. All of the people she worked for never saw me, because I worked nights a lot. I never have changed much. We lived in this little place around the lake called "Land O Lakes," and there was a lot of talk. The gas man told some people who lived across the street that he saw us making love on a dining room table one time, and I thought this would be really, really hard because we didn’t have a dining room table! It was pretty funny. For the most part, they got over it. You just live there, and people get used to you. That’s what I always felt like. They just get used to you, and you become part of the woodwork like the dust on your table. Actually, I went on the board of that place and served on the board for four or five years.”
Below is a vehicle that Charlotte designed and painted. We will talk later about Betty’s Real Estate career.
Betty and Charlotte split up after 15 years, but they are still good friends to this day. Betty has been with her current partner, Cindy, for 34 years and she is also a good friend to Charlotte. How funny life turns out.
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