Lifelong Belleville resident Bettie Thurston celebrates 95th birthday

Bettie (Wilson) Thurston, lifelong Belleville resident, recently celebrated her 95th birthday.
She was born April 28, 1920, at home, which was located behind what is now Chase Bank. She was the youngest of seven children. Her mother, Florence, was from England. She passed away of pneumonia when Bettie was three years old.
Her father, Henry Wilson, owned a blacksmith business behind the library. Their property stretched from Roys Street to High Street. Mr. Wilson sold this property to the City of Belleville in 1955.
In 1929, the stock market crashed when young Bettie was nine years old. Her father lost all his money, and at times, earned just 65 cents a week! She recalls growing up during those painful years of the Depression, when everything was scarce, and you valued what little you had.
She shares the story of how in 1924, Detroit Edison widened around the Huron River, also known as the Flats, into the Belleville Lake we all enjoy today. During winters, ice chunks were carved out of the lake, and stored amid straw at a local barn; as ice boxes were used in those days.
She remembers standing on the corner in 1928, watching as Main Street was paved. At that time, Main Street consisted of little more than CF Smith Store, the Movie Theatre, and a Hotel, which served a lunch for 25 cents. She later observed as it burned down.
The mode of transportation to school in those days was horse and buggy. School lunches were 10 cents and consisted of a bowl of soup and a hamburger bun. No meat, just the bun.
Bettie recalls working at the Belleville Movie Theatre as a teen, where she earned 50 cents a night. She remembers the excitement when Shirley Temple’s “The Little Princess” movie came to town. Of course, back then, tickets were a whopping 20 cents for adults and 10 cents for kids.
She graduated from Belleville High in 1936 and shortly after she began employment at the Belleville Post Office, where she earned $52 a month. She married Donald Thurston, also from Belleville, in 1943. They enjoyed 67 years together, before Donald’s passing in 2010. They had one son, Roger, who resides in Belleville, as well.
Bettie has a sister who is currently 98 years old.
— Pam Faust