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Inspiring Voices - John Whalen

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When 21-year old military wife, Betty Whalen and her five-month-old daughter, Kim, embark on the 13,000 mile trip from New Jersey to Taiwan to join her husband, Betty never dreamed the trip, undertaken in the days before jet travel and disposable diapers, would take nine days, during which Kim would be hit with colic and diarrhea. Adding to the challenges the young mother would face was an unnecessary two-hour round trip by bus to San Francisco because of misinformation about her visa given to her by a flight operations specialist at Travis Air Force Base, California, her first stop. The error resulted in a tedious three-hour delay which caused Betty to miss a flight to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. Two days later upon arrival at Hickam, she faced another three-day wait. Then another exasperating four days in the Philippine Islands. On Taiwan, Betty was the youngest American Round-eye to meet the legendary Taiwanese President, Chiang Kai Shek. While there she gives birth to her second daughter in a missionary hospital only to lose this child suddenly three years later. Upon her familys return by ship, with two babies under two, from Taiwan, the angry Pacific Ocean brings their ship breathtakingly close to capsizing. During the voyage, 20-month old Kim faces emergency surgery on a ship that was bucking so badly, the surgeon was unable to stand upright without assistance.Back in the states with a family of four, Betty hones the shopping practices that enabled her to multiply her dollars and earn her the designation: Queen of Thrift. Her four basic principles: never pay the retail price, know the brands, shop the discount stores, and be patient, have paid off big for her. They can for anyone willing to try them.

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Publié par	Inspiring Voices
Date de parution	23 avril 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781462400461
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0240€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Queen of THRIFT
SNAPSHOTS OF A MILITARY WIFE

John Whalen

Copyright © 2012 John Whalen

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Inspiring Voices books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

Inspiring Voices
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.inspiringvoices.com
1-(866) 697-5313

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

ISBN: 978-1-4624-0045-4 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4624-0046-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011944957

Inspiring Voices rev. date: 06/12/2012
CONTENTS
Dedicated
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Appendix

“. . .Thou didst form my inward parts:
Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb.
I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
My frame was not hidden from Thee,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.
Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in thy book they were all written,
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them . . .”
(Psalm 139)
“. . . I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord . . .”
(Jeremiah29:11)
( New American Standard Bible)
DEDICATED
To Our Great Grandchildren: Angel, Eloise, Estella, Hazel, Liam, and Jagger.
To Our Grandchildren: Kellie and Eric, Richard and Ellie, Zachary,
Kristin and Paul, Luke, Emily, Rebekah, William, Matthew, Jacob.
To Our Children: Kim and Richard, John and Jill, Shannon and Paul, Bill Blackmon
As you read this biography may you understand it from the same perspective
from which it was written; that is simply a humble account of some of the days
Almighty God ordained for Betty as part of His grand plan for her life.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My wife Betty. Though I wrote this for you, I took a considerable amount of time from you. As the project lengthened, your grace and patience kept pace with it. Thank you.
My Editor and friend, Laura Watson. I leaned heavily on your time and expertise. You were always there for me. This work would not have been possible without you.
Roger Wilson. Your writing, technical skills and patient sharing of your valuable time played a huge part in the manuscript preparation plus satisfying the publisher’s technical requirements for the work.
My son John III (Jake). You were always there for my constant technical needs, granting me an over abundance of time and patience. In helping me, you took valuable time from your own business demands.
Daughters Kim and Shannon. Thank you for your timely, effective responses to my various appeals for help with the project.
Barbara Wallawrab, Jim McClelland, and Carol Harris. For your patience and expert guidance.
Last but far from least, thanks to my fellow army retiree and founder of Military Wives.com, Mr. J.B. Chattuck for your invaluable help with the Military Spouse Symbol for the book cover.
COVER by Rich Sullivan; ( r.sullivan@mac.com )
INTRODUCTION
This book is rare. That’s because it puts the spotlight on the unsung segment of American womanhood—the military wife. Throughout our history, these exemplary women of character have formed the foundational backbone of America’s armed forces. The Queen of Thrift is one of them. Her name is Betty Jane Eleanor Whalen. She has been married to the author for over half a century.
Betty was initiated into life’s school of hard knocks at the tender age of five by braving the severe Vermont winters as she trudged the two-mile round trip to school each day alone. She was raised by an athletic, outdoorsman type father who desired a boy. He got Betty instead.

Betty grew up competing with the men, honing a character of grit and determination in the process. She could shoot a rifle, bait a hook, swing a bat, master the cartwheel, and excel at the local tavern’s shuffleboard.
Married to a soldier she was forced to move three times her first six months of marriage. At the age of 21, she and her five-month-old first-born daughter traveled to the island of Taiwan to join her husband who was stationed there. Travelling on a space-available status aboard military aircraft, the trip took nine days in the days before jet travel and disposable diapers. She kept her marriage intact in spite of being separated from her husband for three and a half out of their first 12 years of marriage raising from one to four children in the process. At age 25, she valiantly handled the earth-shattering, sudden death of her 3-year old daughter. In the process of returning from Taiwan, Betty staunchly withstood the prospect of imminent surgery on her 20-month-old first born on a ship crossing the Pacific in seas so rough it nearly capsized.
Featured in this narrative is Betty’s sterling motherhood—a motherhood presented from a different perspective. While certain attributes of this great institution are generally recognized and respected, others are not. For example, the areas of maternity, childrearing, homemaking, soccor-momming, and taxi driving are well known and mostly favorably acknowledged. However, when it comes to a mother’s determined resolve to uphold, protect and defend the sacred institutions of marriage and family against the constant thrusts of a world bent on discrediting or devaluing them, her efforts get scant attention. For her entire life Betty, and mothers like her, have persevered in this day-to- day, nitty- gritty, down in the trenches battle to honor these noble institutions.
The manuscript began as a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek portrayal of an admiring husband’s view of the frugal, money-saving shopping practices of his amazing wife. Betty is an exemplary woman. Though she has been thrown some of life’s most vicious curve balls, she has slammed each out of the park for a home run. Betty is a winner, a scrapper, a steadfast, dyed-in-the-wool, first class achiever. Her ability to overcome adversity is incredible.
When I married Betty, I knew I was getting a rare gem—I had not planned on getting a financial thrift machine. Her shopping strategy has always been very simple. Be patient, never pay top price, look for the bargains, and buy quality merchandise, and shop the discount stores. These sound practices, religiously followed, have saved our household great sums of money over the years. One dollar in Betty’s capable, penny-pinching hands becomes from five to 20 dollars or more in the marketplace.
If, as a shopper, you are of the persuasion that believes price determines quality, and that the better products are found only in the higher-priced establishments, this book is not for you. If, on the other hand, you are willing to exercise some patience and apply the few basic principles described here, you will not only stretch your dollars and master the art of shopping; those shopping experiences will become more of a fun-filled adventure.
Whether you are, a newlywed woman looking forward to motherhood, a single mom facing life’s relentless challenges alone, an experienced herder of 21 st century children, or a woman managing her own career you will find enlightenment, motivation, and encouragement from the lifestyle of this ordinary woman of extraordinary accomplishments.
About halfway through this writing, it occurred to me that the description “Queen of Thrift” did not do justice to the queen whose sterling character enable her to stand tall amidst the never-ending and sometimes brutal challenges of life. Relatively few women are “married into” the military as Betty was. Life’s ground rules broaden considerably for military wives. They must constantly expect the unexpected, such as separations—some quite lengthy. Six months after our wedding, the army unleashed one of those sizzling curve balls. One minute Betty and I were looking forward to a tour of duty in Germany, and the next my assignment was changed sending me, without Betty, to the island of Taiwan in the Far East. We would be separated for seven months. Our dreams of seeing Europe together vanished. My 21-year-old, pregnant wife would deliver our first child without me at her side. This separation proved to be only the first of many. The next one was for three months, then my assignment to Korea for 14 months. Five years later Vietnam claimed me for 15 months. During our 16 years in the army, Betty would “Hold-the-fort” for nearly three and a half years by herself.
Another factor played a part in my transition from short story to biogra