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Showing posts with the label Joan Elizabeth Hammond Hale: Granny Betty

Granny Betty: Joan Elizabeth Hammond Hale

I think this picture is stunning. Click to get a close up. It's a wonderfully composed tableau of South African beach life in 1941. Right to left: Granny Betty, Henry, Elsie, Ruth, Christopher Charles, Joan, Tony, Grandpa John  Granny Betty We didn't see much of Granny Betty. We saw much more of John and Nola because they had more money and they could travel. And by the time Mom and Dad could go back to South Africa  Dad's Mom had died. I am afraid I don't think Dad ever forgave Betty for effectively giving up on him and his brothers in the period after John divorced her. John and Nola and their Lido hotel and their lifestyle intimidated her, hurt her and made her deeply bitter, or so I gather. But she didn't fight for the children she had with John. She gave them up to the competent whirl of John and Nola, so seemingly successful in everything and I think their success and happiness poisoned her life a little. The result was that she didn't come ...