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Betty is starting a new adventure as she moves to Pennsylvania
She's wiry, she's mischievous, she's political, she's determined, she's a volunteer, she's a teacher, she's caring, she's an actor and director, she's 71, she's been in Eureka Springs 12 years and she is leaving to start another stage of her life. Betty Zaboly will say good-bye to her friends and community at the end of this month to move to Hallam, Penn., a small town between Lancaster and York, not far from Gettysburg, to be closer to her son, Dan Callahan, and his family. "I'm not going to live with them and I won't be next door, but I won't be very far away. I'll be able to see the grandkids regularly," she said. A friend will make the drive across country with her. "We will look like Ma Kettle going across country, the car will be so packed," she said with a chuckle. Actually, professional movers will have taken the majority of her belongings with them on July 28. She leaves the next day. She is going to a new adventure and a new condominium. She has never had a totally new living space before. "Its under construction," she said. "My son and daughter-in-law have worked with me to pick out a lot of the colors and furnishings. I am going to live in a hotel for about a month, until the condo is finished. I won't have anymore hillsides to weed eat once I move to Pennsylvania." She won't just be sitting idle in the hotel either. She will start searching for a Democratic Women's group to join, a church and a local community theater. She's already got a theater group spotted in York. Zaboly moved to Eureka Springs Nov. 1, 1992. She had retired from 24 years of teaching English and Latin in Cleveland, Ohio. Prior to that, she had taught in California. "I think teachers should leave town when they retire," she said. "Otherwise, we tend to want to remain involved, to try to keep things going the way we had them going. Its not a good idea." She fell in love with Eureka on vacation trips. She had a brother living in Springfield, Mo., and he brought her down here. "I decided to move here," she recalled. "I took a year to get my house fixed up. I did a lot of the work myself. I had a kid help me paint the outside. He stood on a ladder and did the high parts. I stood on the ground and did what I could reach. I was only 59 then." Her choice of house colors caused a neighborhood stir - bright pink - on a fairly modern house by Eureka standards. "Well, I thought it fit in with Eureka," she said shrugging. "I also thought about lavender." In Cleveland, when she wasn't busy with schoolwork and events, she was active in her parish church, calling Bingo on Friday nights. Once she got her house here fixed the way she wanted it, she got bored. "I went up to the high school and volunteered to teach Latin," she said. "I don't think they believed me at first. They didn't take me up on the offer. And, I wasn't certified to teach in Arkansas at that time. "So, I got a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and got certified to teach Latin. At 60, I was the oldest person in the room taking the test." Once certified, the Eureka school system welcomed Zaboly and she began to teach Latin, not as a dead language, but a language that is very alive and involved. "I love words," she said. "Most of our language comes from Latin. It is the foundation of our law, too. I wanted to teach kids to love language as well." Apparently, she has succeeded. Some of her students have been top scholarship and award winners as they have graduated from high school and college. "I like to think I have made a difference," she said modestly. She has been a steady volunteer for OARS (Ozark Aids Resources and Services). "Remember the year we were bouncers at the bar?" she giggled. OARS provided security service during a Blues Festival early on. She has been a lay reader and lay server in St. James Episcopal Church. She also tends the meditation garden, just below the sidewalk in front of the church at 28 Prospect. "That was kind of a mess when I started working in it," she said. "Its an old English garden. It is lovely now." In 1994 or '95, she got involved with the Eureka Theater Company (ETC). "I had been in drama in high school and college. I had dreamed of being involved in little/community theater when I retired." She has appeared on stage, directed, helped backstage, done publicity, whatever has been needed. She and another ETC member, Steve Shell, organized a Drama Club at Eureka Springs High School last fall. The group put on its first production this spring. Zaboly's greatest pleasure in participation comes from the theater of politics. She has organized peace rallies, campaigned for the Democrats, working really hard for local, state and national candidates. "I love politics, but I wouldn't hold office. I don't have that kind of ego," she said. She campaigned for former President Bill Clinton when she was living in Ohio. She got to meet Hilary Clinton at a women's rally in Ohio, but didn't meet Bill until she moved to Arkansas. "My 12 years in Eureka have been good, in general," she said. "The area is gorgeous, but I also think there is a strain of insanity here - maybe its in the water. People have become very unreasonable. I see it in church, too. "I think a lot of them come from powerful positions and they don't know how to cooperate to get things done. "I love the people, especially my students. I have had a good time here, but I am looking forward to living in Pennsylvania. There will be new challenges for me there." Building official fired, theft charge is considered Eureka Springs Building Official Randy Mills was fired Monday morning and possibly faces charges of theft for improperly using the city's credit card. Betty is starting a new adventure as she moves to Pennsylvania She's wiry, she's mischievous, she's political, she's determined, she's a volunteer, she's a teacher, she's caring, she's an actor and director, she's 71, she's been in Eureka Springs 12 years and she is leaving to start another stage of her life. Rec Center improvement plan presented The Holiday Island Suburban Improvement District (HISID) Board of Commissioners heard preliminary findings on Recreation Complex improvements from Morrison Architecture at its Monday work session. Mandatory trash service could be coming to Holiday Island as early as next January Most people in Holiday Island contract with a trash hauler to carry away their garbage, but some do not, and Monday the Holiday Island Suburban Improvement District (HISID) Board of Commissioners heard a draft proposal for mandatory trash service to address this and other problems. |
