BY TONEY ATKINS
I just learned today that one of my two favorite aunts died last Thursday. Her service and burial, of which I was unaware, were several days ago, and I’m left with another hole in my heart.
Bette Dodd, my late mother’s sister, was always a bright spot in my life. Her smile and laughter would brighten a room. From the time she was in high school, this always-beautiful blonde bombshell refused to let me call her “Aunt Bette.” She was Bette to me.
I recall, with a smile, the days when I looked forward to going to the ice cream shop where she worked after school. Then, there was the time she took me to see the original black-and-white version of “The Thing” in the 1950s. Her scream during the climactic scene nearly burst my eardrums.
She always laughed at the way I pronounced the word “familiar” when I was a child. I always said “fame-uh-ler.” Even into my adulthood, she never let me live it down, even though I had long before corrected my pronunciation.
During my crazy adolescent years, I insisted one day that she hop into my old Crosley vehicle to go into the northwest Georgia countryside to meet my latest sweetheart. As we were riding down the dirt road in the middle of nowhere, we both noticed a tire passing us by and going into a ditch. It didn’t dawn on either of us for a minute that the tire had come off my car. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop laughing as I restored the tire to its proper place on the auto, which had seen its better days long before I got it.
She and her husband, the late Willard E. (Bill) Dodd, were generous to a fault. They never failed to be sympathetic when I used them as sounding boards when I had problems at home. As a child, I played with their kids, Ronnie and Marnie, and was so proud of my cousins when they graduated high school and what they later achieved in life.
Although we hadn’t seen each other much during the decades that I lived in Florida, my fondness for Bette never changed. Even when she was in bad health, she was the same old Bette whenever we did talk. I miss her and wish I had visited her more often and that I had been the kind of friend in our older years that she had been when I was young.
My sympathies go out to my cousins and to her friends and relatives. May the beautiful Bette rest in peace. She truly deserves it.
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OBITUARY FROM THE CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS:
DALTON, GA -- Bette Dodd, 79, passed away Thursday, June 14, 2012 at her residence.She was preceded in death by her husband, Willard "Bill" Dodd; parents; brother and sisters.She was a member of Grove Level Baptist Church.She is survived by a daughter, Marnie Dodd, of Dalton; son, Ronnie Dodd, of Sale Creek, Tenn.; granddaughter, Sandy Dodd Zigler; very special friend, Robin Harris; nieces, Susan Tankersley and Linda Johnson; nephews, Mark Dodd, Joe Dodd, Tony Atkins and Mike Bell.A funeral service to honor the life of Mrs. Dodd will be held today at 10 a.m. at the Pleasant Grove Chapel of Julian Peeples with Rev. Bill Walker officiating. Burial will be in United Memorial Gardens.The family received friends at the funeral home Friday from 5 until 8 p.m. Flowers will be accepted or donations may be made to Amedisys Hospice, 1510 N. Thornton Ave. Dalton, Ga. 30720Julian Peeples Funeral Home, Pleasant Grove Chapel, Dalton is in charge of funeral arrangements.
