Betty Ford
Betty Ford (born April 8, 1918), a First Lady of the United States, was born Elizabeth Ann Bloomer in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of William Stephenson Bloomer, an industrial supply salesman, and his wife Hortense Neahr.
She grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan from age three. She studied dance at the Calla Travis Dance Studio and attended the Benningtoon Vermon School of Dance. She studied dance under Martha Graham, and worked as a Powers model in New York.
Her mother urged her to return from New York to Grand Rapids: she did so in 1941, becoming fashion coordinator for Herpolscheimer's department store.
In 1942 she married her first husband, William G. Warren, a furniture salesman. They divorced in 1947.
On October 15, 1948 she married Gerald Ford, Jr (born Leslie Lynch King, Jr), then in his first Congressional election campaign, and who became the 38th United States President, at Grace Episcopal Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Gerald Ford became President in 1974. Shortly after Betty Ford became First Lady she underwent a mastectomy for breast cancer: she became a spokesman about the importance of early detection. In 1978 her family forced her to confront her own alcoholism and addiction to analgesic drugs and seek treatment. After her recovery, she established the Betty Ford Clinic for the treatment of chemical dependency.
The Fords have three sons and one daughter:
- Michael Gerald Ford (b. 1950) - a minister
- John Gardner “Jack” Ford (b. 1952) - a journalist and public relations consultant
- Steven Meigs Ford (b. 1956) - an actor and rodeo rider
- Susan Elizabeth (Ford) Vance Bales (b. 1957) - a photographer
