South Carolina

I have to tell you about the visit we made to Betty Magill, called Mrs. Betty, and the wonderfull day we spent there. Pam Freck drove her car with Riet Surtel in it, and I was in Joannie Culverhouse's car. Fortunately - for me - Pam didn't remember well the way, so we crossed a lot of countryside and I had the opportunity to admire this wonderful sorroundings, but I was a bit surprised to see a lot of poor people living in very old and sometimes ruined houses. After a lot of driving around we got to Betty Magill's home.
Betty Magill and her husband live in Kinards, SC which is between Newberry and Clinton, SC. She is surrounded by fields of cotton, corn and soybeans. There are many dairy farms in that area also.
Mrs. Betty has been corresponding for over 50 years with people from all over the world in regard to tatting, crocheting and notecard making. Dorah Orr was one of those ladies. She test tatted many patterns including the ones for Myrtle Hamilton. Another lady she corresponded with in Florida was Joanie Culverhouse who was delighted to get to meet Mrs. Betty in person.
Betty was in her own little world until the SC State Fair in 2000. Mr. Robert, her husband, was watching TV early one morning and saw the Palmetto Tatters on TV and he told Mrs. Betty to come watch. She was beside herself and found their very next meeting. She has done a lot of the PTG Guild correspondance through the years like thank you notes for the butterflies and makes bookmarks to give away at Tat Days. Due to her health issues she has not been able to attend either the State Fairs or the Guild Meetings for the last 2 years. That is why the Palmetto tatters try to take the lessons and the folks to her.
We sat a lot of hours together tatting, showing our tatting works and speaking. I admired Mrs. Betty's framed tattingworks on the walls and a shuttle collection under glas in a table. She gave us some handmade booksmarks and other gifts. She also had invited a yournalist from the local paper "The Newberry Observer" to join us, who made a lot of questions and took pictures and stayed also hours together with us. She wrote a very big article on that newspaper about tatting, a whole page with text and photos. Pam Freck was so kind and sent me a copy of that paper. Evening arrived and Mrs Betty invited us to remain for dinner, but Joannie had to return home to prepair dinner for her husband, so we greeted Mrs. Betty and went home. It was really a wonderful and unforgettable day.