A Woman On the Move by R. Eric Reickel (from Academy Bulletin, 1995)
Betty Lloyd served as an employee of the Recreation Department for the City of Detroit for 38 years and upon her retirement on July 1, 1983, she was serving as the Superintendent of Recreation. You might think that after 38 years of providing recreation services to the City of Detroit that Betty would slow down and take it easy; but a call to Betty’s home sounds like "You hear my voice but I regret I cannot come to the phone quite yet. Leave your name and number too and when I can I’ll get back to you." The message varies, but the results are the same. Betty’s on the road.
Upon her retirement she continued to teach classes at Wayne State University until a couple of years ago. Drawing on her retirement objectives, she organized her fellow retirees into a group that gets together three or four times a year to renew friendships. They refer to themselves as "Betty’s Group" to share a togetherness feeling that is so often lost upon retirement. She is especially proud of this group as many of the longtime friends and retirees of the recreation department get together to talk about the good old days!
When she is not with her group, you can find her camping, or when I got in touch with her the other day, she was just about ready to go bowling.
Betty has served as a Board Member of the Detroit Retired City Employees (over 9,000 members) for over 10 years as well as served on numerous committees and as editor of their newsletter. Currently, Betty is a Board Member of the Women’s Forum an organization of over 150 professional women in the Metro Matrix Retirees Service Centers.
In a recent statement, she stated that "she entered into her retirement years with the expressed purpose of practicing what she had taught for so many years." that is to enjoy your leisure time. She loves to travel and is currently planning a trip in Greece and Turkey and has personally escorted many tours for various groups throughout the United States. One of her special places is taking seniors to Mackinaw Island and the great Grand Hotel.
Recently she sold her 21 foot Airstream, which she dearly loved and traveled all over with, and bought into a resort area on a lake, only 35 miles from her home, where she spends some of her leisure time. Betty wasn’t in this leisure resort area for more than a couple of months when she was already running for office. Even though she wasn’t elected, her friends encouraged her to run next time. They all realize the great leadership ability that she possesses. Nobody will let Betty have any rest.
She continues to maintain her home in Detroit, a city which she loves and proudly touts wherever she can. She has also purchased a Thomas Theater Organ and takes lessons to learn to play. She also is president of her golf league and is a member of a bowling league.
In closing, her final remarks were, "My retirement life is overflowing, and I am enjoying every minute of it."