Betty Whitfield attended nursing school at Vanderbilt University. She did not finish her nursing degree, though, because she contracted tuberculosis and was sent to convalesce. After three year's rest, she had recovered, but had sustained some permanent lung damage.
Betty went on to get a teaching degree in Oklahoma. She taught mostly second grade for decades, but I don't have a photo of her in a classroom -- the photo below is of her retirement party. Betty is standing, holding the package. Her very good friend, Avanelle Burns is seated beside her.
My father, John Riley, also started out in nursing school, but ended up a mechanical engineer. John started work as a young teen with his own lawn mowing business. By the time he received his engineering degree he had worked many jobs including summer farm hand, dental assistant in the US Air Force, mattress deliverer, ice cream scooper, and draftsman. But he was always an engineer at heart, able to design, fix or build pretty much anything.
After retirement, John continued working as a volunteer for the American Red Cross. He is on the left in the photo below. One of his Red Cross assignments was interviewing affected New York City residents after 9/11.
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