Betty Person

I met Betty, a Canadian nurse taking a summer vacation, in the main Amsterdam post office in the summer of 1976, and we wound up touring around the city together for a couple of days. After that, we exchanged letters for a while, then eventually fell out of touch. Early in 2000 — a quarter of a century later! — I remembered her name and Googled her and found her, living in Victoria on the Canadian west coast. We exchanged some letters, and, when I went out west that summer to see cousins Alan and Sue and my old friends the Stevicks in Washington state, I took a ferry up to Victoria and visited with Betty for a couple of days.

We had a lovely time. One of the highlights was whale-watching — and the photo shows us suited up and on our way out of Victoria Harbour into open water. It was a perfect day, and our captain found us not one but two pods of whales!

Betty, by the way, has made several trips to Central America, where she volunteers with the Mercy Ships program, bringing health care to impoverished native people who otherwise might never see a doctor or nurse.

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