Betty Byrd Parkinson celebrates 100th birthday with motorcycle ride

Betty Byrd Parkinson lives in her home on land in Van Buren Township that was a part of the 400-acre family farm on which she was born 100 years ago on Nov. 9.
As a girl living on that farm she recalls fun days of swimming with her friends the Bitnars and the Gardners. They, of course, were swimming in what at that time was known as the Huron River out of which Detroit Edison developed Belleville Lake.
She attended schools in Belleville and graduated from Belleville High School. Midge Artley was one of her very bright classmates and Midge often commented that Betty was the smartest student in the high school in all academic areas.
After graduating, she worked as a bookkeeper at the coal company in Belleville, earning $7 a week, and worked six days a week from 8 to 6. She married and has three children, Bill, Kay, and Phil.
Later in life she worked at Jacobson’s in Ann Arbor. Following that she was employed at the University of Michigan as secretary for the Dean of the School of Engineering and she retired from that position. One of her desires after retirement was to experience a ride in a hot air balloon and so up she went. Nothing can hold Betty down.
She has been an active person in her retirement as she swam many laps at the Belleville High School pool, took advantage of the treadmill at the gym, walked miles in Belleville, and at the age of 96 she raked and bagged 140 large bags of leaves.
On one occasion when she was 86 her neighbor saw her on the roof leaning over the edge to clean her gutters. She had removed an extension ladder from her basement and by the time he got to the roof she had almost completed the job.
Betty was not all work and no play, as she enjoyed her bowling league with special friends. They called their bowling team the “Gutter Busters.”
Betty was fearless and every fall she would head out all alone across the Mackinac Bridge to the Upper Peninsula to enjoy the color. She would go all the way up to spend the night at Copper Harbor. When she went on tours to Hawaii and Canada she did not require a companion, but confidently signed up for the trip and enjoyed every moment. At the age of 96 she bravely allowed her neighbor Mike to give her a ride on his motorcycle. She had another of those rides last week in honor of her coming 100th birthday.
Watch the streets, folks, because you never knew when Biker Betty will come riding through Belleville on her way to New Boston. A few years a go she had the privilege of being one of the grand marshals for the annual Strawberry Festival Parade along with her classmate Midge.
Betty became a member of the Belleville Methodist Church on Nov. 9, 1922. Yes, she has been committed to this same congregation for 93 years. She continues to remember and pray for a long list of folks. One friend recalls that a few years back they had started wearing name tags at church. Betty commented that she might wear hers upside down so that she could always be able to look down at it and tell who she was. You see, she is quite witty and has a good sense of humor. After her retirement, she found ways to be of help to others. She would gather together people who were alone for holidays and share meals with them. She bought and delivered groceries to folks who could no longer do their own shopping and provided rides for those who could no longer drive. Betty remembers going to lunch after church many times with Marian Kuchta, the mother of Rosemary Otzman who is the Independent editor.
Betty is a creative person. She verbally shared with one of her friends the stories that she wrote during the nights when she was unable to sleep and when her eyesight no longer allowed her to write them on paper. They were of such quality and detail that they could have become books or movies. The friend only regrets that she did not have them recorded. This same friend also has beautiful knitted afghans created by her dear friend Betty Parkinson.
Yes, she is creative, caring, giving, and we would be remiss not to mention that she is fiercely independent. When you visit her, she always says, “Don’t you worry about me. You take care of yourself because that is what is important.”
— Mary Hoff