430 Bryant Street, Jonesboro, “Little Darling” with kitten “Jammy”
By Bettina P H Burns
“Uncle Karl” (Karl Grady Bradley), “Nunkie” (Foster Key Bradley) and “Mammie” (Zula Zong Foster Bradley) bought 2013 Claredon Avenue, Bessmer, the former Lefkovits home, in 1919. The Lefkovits were slow in vacating and Mammie finally told them they would have to move upstairs because they were moving in downstairs. The Lefkovits left the premises.
Mildred Celeste Bradley and Arthur Richmond Pearson had their wedding at the newly purchased Bradley home on June 1, 1919. Bettina Blanche Pearson arrived nine months later. They had the “little darling” baptized at the First Methodist Church in Bessmer, so naturally church has been a very important part of Bettina’s life. The family lived in the back upstairs apartment, 1524 Second Avenue North, Bessmer. Mildred was worried that her baby, Bettina, might fall down the stairs, so she and Arthur purchased a small house in Jonesboro.
While the Pearson’s lived in Jonesboro, Bettina enjoyed her kitty, “Jammy,” and the playhouse her daddy built between the Alberta and Bell of Georgia peach trees in the side yard. Once while watching Daddy change a tire, the wrench flew off and hit the tot above the left eye. “Are you trying to kill my baby?” agitated Mildred asked her husband. Bettina still has the scar. On another occasion, when Bettina had ridden her tricycle to the neighbor’s home and back, with her mother’s permission, she turned the tricycle over and got black cinder dust in a cut on her right knee and it is still there more than eighty years later.
After attending the Cradle Roll and Sunday School at the Jonesboro Methodist Church, when they moved to 1515 Dartmouth Avenue in Bessmer before Bettina started school, they moved their letteres to First Methodist, Bessmer, where Bettina was baptized. Over the years, Sunday School, choir and Youth organizations of Wesleyan Service Guild and United Methodist Women continued to be part of her life.
In junior and senior high school, Bettina was involved with the Glee Club, TriHiY, National Honor Society and A Club. Bettina was valedictorian of her senior class. In addition to piano lessons, she had speech and voice lessons and her mother emphasized the importance of memorizing great poetry, which she spouts at every opportunity.
Frances Ward and Bettina were roommates at Alabama College (now the University of Montevallo). While Fran was always involved in dramatics, Bettina usually participated in the glee club and College Night. Fran was “gold” the first year and Bettina was ‘purple.” But roommates needed to be the same color, so Fran saw to it that Bettina was in the “gold” group the next couple of years as well as their other roommate, Patricia Bozenhard (Serota Montgomery).
Have you ever heard of “College Night?” When Frances Ward and I graduated from high school in 1938 (as the country was recovering from “the great depression”), we had to choose a college that was “reasonable” and not too far from Bessmer. The University at Tuscaloosa was never a contender. Our parents did not want their young (17 and 18 year old) daughters exposed to the huge enrollment even though it was closer to Bessmer. Huntingdon College at Montgomery offered me a partial scholarship and it was well recognized, but it was 100 miles from home. Birmingham Southern (also a Methodist College) was only 12 miles from home, but I wanted to live on campus. Alabama College in Montevallo was our compromise. Five Bessmer grads chose “the Angel Farm.”
When interviewed by Dean Napier, I told him I wanted to be a teacher. He suggested elementary education; I chose secondary education with a major in mathematics and a minor in Latin. (I knew I could not spell, so English was out of the question.) History was always changing. I wanted something that was permanent. Ha Ha!
“College Night” began in 1920 to give students a winter activity. While I was at Alabama College, “College Night” was a three day celebration and included “Homecoming.” On February 11, 2006, thanks to an invitation from 1986 graduate Melanie Poole, President-elect of the University of Montevallo Alumni Association, I attended my 65-year Homecoming! The campus has grown and the name has changed, but the spirit is still there.
Montevallo did not have social sororities, but Bettina was in the Kappa Mu Epsilon mathematics fraternity. The girls went their separate ways after graduation. In chapter three you learned of Bettina’s teaching and first marriage.
In 1951, Cullman County Board of Education demanded that each teacher attend graduate school for at least six weeks or get a cut in pay. That year Field Enterprises latched on to as many teachers as possible to sell World Books and Childcraft. Bettina was fortunate to qualify for the free training in salesmanship.
Parents in rural Cullman County had never planned on owning an encyclopedia, but the children were interested. Over a period of time, Bettina finally earned her “free” set, but not before attending Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville, TN, the latter half of that summer. She won free trips to Chicago, IL, the Gator Bowl, Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl as World Book District Manager.
Published U.S. Legacies April 2006
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