TIGHAR
Amelia Earhart Search Forum => General discussion => Topic started by: Ric Gillespie on June 20, 2014, 10:24:24 AM
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Betty Klenck Brown passed away Wednesday night, June 18. She was 92. Betty had been in declining health for several months and was in hospice care but she remained lucid until just a few days before she died. I last talked to her about a month ago and she was very much herself - sweet, funny, and eager to hear the latest TIGHAR news.
Her daughter reports that she was comfortable with the approaching end, not anxious or afraid. "When I go, be sure and let Ric know."
It was a great privilege to know her.
Betty will be buried beside her husband "Brownie" (who died of Alzheimers several years ago) in the family plot in Hoopeston, IL on June 30. Her role in the Earhart saga will be mentioned in her obituary and the plaque that Pat and I presented to her on behalf of the TIGHAR membership in 2013 (YouTube "Thanks to Betty" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcTGz4O_Yq4)) will be displayed at her funeral.
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For me, Betty's notebook is one of the Earhart Projects most important discoveries. I'm grateful that she saved and shared it with us.
My condolences to the family and friends of Betty Klenck.
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Rest well Betty.
Betty is a testament to the power that a single person has to positively impact so many. May her family and friends find comfort in her memory.
The search continues in her spirit.....
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Sad news indeed. She will be remembered well and for a long time.
My deepest condolences to Betty's family,
Dave
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Betty and her once-unappreciated doodlings in a notebook will not be forgotten. She has left a priceless contribution and her mark upon the legacy of Amelia Earhart.
Condolences to her family.
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Thanks for sharing this news, Ric. Betty was a mighty fine and special lady, I'm sorry to hear of her passing but am grateful for along and fruitful life. I will always be glad for the fascinating chapter she gave us in this chase.
Maybe now Betty's own wonderings about that fateful afternoon of odd broadcasts have been clearly answered for her, only the Cosmos can know.
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As we say over here 'she's had a good innings' and fingers crossed this year we'll find the grail and then we can say that Betty was with Amelia and Fred at the very end.
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My condolences to Betty's family
Thinking of them at this sad time
Thanks Richie
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Betty gave the world a priceless contribution.
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Betty thought the world of TIGHAR and of you, Ric. Your calls and visits always kept her spirits up. She was very kind to me in giving me the opportunity to call her up a few years ago after I contacted her on Facebook.
I'll miss her as will all who knew her. I'm thinking of her family as are all TIGHARs. We are lucky she documented for posterity what she heard and what she thought about it afterward. I was looking for a way to remember Betty and found this 2007 interview (http://www.thestory.org/stories/2013-10/clues-behind-amelia-earhart-s-last-radio-transmission) I thought to share. It seems a nice way to revisit her and for those who are unfamiliar with her story to learn more about her.
Joe Cerniglia
TIGHAR #3078RCP
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Thanks for posting this interview Joe! This interview and several others like it, are a major contribution...not only to the TIGHAR organization...but to the world. It tells the world that what she wrote down is most likely the last words that anyone heard from Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan!!! What a treasure!!!! I loved this interview because it gives the listener the true understanding of who Amelia truly was. Typical Kansas cussing girl who'd rather stick with it and fix it or and doesn't take no for an answer! I had to laugh as Betty described Amelia in her frustrations! I truly wonder what Fred's attitude towards her on this whole trip was like? Anyway, not only did one person hear Amelia, but Betty's father heard her as well. In the interview Betty describes her father's radio as a console with a short wave radio. It almost depicts the radio my great grandfather had in his home. With that...I wonder...why only a small percentage of people heard her, and not many others? This is a question that truly needs to be answered! Anyway, Betty's notebook is a priceless treasure, and I'm positive that it will end up in a glass case for future generations to come!! My heart goes out to Betty's family during this difficult time. R.I.P. Betty....and may the Lord guide you safely home!!!
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Interesting that the radio host dates the notebook at July 2nd 1937.
I'm satisfied that TIGHAR has fleshed it out as being July 5th 1937.
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Was glancing at the pages of Betty's Notebook this morning, and remembered from the interview she had where she talked about sitting on the floor and listening to her father's radio. I was somewhat amused by the pages 34, 35, and 38 of her notebook. You would think at first these were words to a poem or just words written down on paper..but indeed were lyrics to the song "Carelessly" written by Billie Holiday in 1937. Anyway, wanted to pay tribute to Betty by posting this song on the forum in her memory. But, wanted to express the value of this notebook. If Betty can take the time to write down the lyrics to a song...word for word...then the words she written down from Amelia...are word for word. Anyway, when you listen and watch this video...pay close attention to the 1.05 mark..You will see a similarity in Betty's drawings and the drawing on the album cover. Very interesting! Anyway....this song goes out to you Betty!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWxbZ0p03ec
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She was one of two 'personal' links to AE's post-crash story (the other one being Gallagher), and we oughta be thankful that she came forward with her diary, and that it is now an integral, recorded part of Tighar's Niku theory, indeed one of the strongest bricks. It doesn't matter if the diary is 'scientific' or not... it has the ring of truth.
On meeting AE (note: I don't mean to go in the realm of the religious here), I hope she asks AE, "Girl! why were you not transmitting just the words 'Norwich City" or "Gardner Island" over and over again?"
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"Girl! why were you not transmitting just the words 'Norwich City" or "Gardner Island" over and over again?"
"Didn't you hear me? I said Norwich City over and over. What's Gardner Island?"
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Betty really did provide a fascinating window into a very unique event, IMO.
Ric's reply ("Didn't you hear me? I said Norwich City...") is a poignant reminder of one of the more unlikely details, as I see it, had this been a hoax or mere commercial dramatization playing out. Why would "something like NYC NYC..." pop up in such a message? And there lay a wreck such a similar name which almost certainly would be identifiable to a strandee by some means either aboard her, or among the stuff left behind at the site by her survivors. It is strongly arguable that they would not have known the island by its name.
Other details leap out - like the reference to the battery ("watch that battery" or to that effect) - what dramatist or re-enactor would think of that sort of thing, or know enough about Earhart's plane and predicament to discern that a battery might have been imperiled by where it was placed (nav station in rear, for one), etc.?
I'm well familiar with all the criticisms, and well aware of the remoteness of the possibility of these signals coming through - and yet Betty gave us something utterly singular: a snapshot of something that well may have been Earhart in her last hours of contact. She did so by means of a special antenna that her clever father had rigged, and by a rather nice radio set of the day. The right stars seem to have fallen for a bright and curious young girl at the time. I'll always believe she was utterly faithful in her report, and that what she reported was, despite the odds, very likely the real deal. Same for Dana Randolph and a handful of others, but it was Betty who brought us so much rich detail.
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Just to follow up Jeff and Rics points on Norwich city,NYC/NYC.
Pronunciation of the word Norwich varies depending on the nationality of the person speaking it. Us Brits pronounce it as follows...
"Doing some reading lately, I've been pondering the strange pronunciations of English place names — namely, that of the 'w' in the "–wich" suffix, which, as I understand it, is not enunciated. For example, listening and watching many British programmes has taught me that Norwich is pronounced NORR-ich, Warwick is pronounced WORR-ick, and many of us know that Greenwich is pronounced GREN-ich."
Pronunciation: n -O-r-i-dge (rhymes with porridge)
Sounds like this in Brit speak
http://www.howdoyousaythatword.com/word/norwich/ (http://www.howdoyousaythatword.com/word/norwich/)
Point being this, if NYC was meant to be Norwich City then it is more likely to have been spoken by a non-Brit voice. Yes, I know it doesn't narrow the field down much but it's something worth noting :-\
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Just as there are dialects within the UK, which forms the basis for the opening scene in George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion (later to become My Fair Lady), there are also dialects within the US.
That means that one has to further factor in the way that Amelia would have said it after her visit to Britain.
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Just as there are dialects within the UK, which forms the basis for the opening scene in George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion (later to become My Fair Lady), there are also dialects within the US.
That means that one has to further factor in the way that Amelia would have said it which also includes that she had visited Britain.
It would be interesting to find out how both AE and FN handled the missing 'W' in Norwich and the 'rhymes with porridge'
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Agree.
Fred was well traveled which may have further modified his pronunciation.
Another factor is the phasing effect of skip and the narrow screen grid modulation of Amelia's transmitter on the pronunciation of the word Norwich.
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A long career in merchant shipping I often wonder if FN was aware of the demise of the Norwich City in the Phoenix group of Islands Tim, even after moving on to navigation with Pan Am. Past history in merchant shipping and then moving onto Pan Am in the Pacific region.
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Agree.
Much has been made of Fred's cognizance of the Norwich City shipwreck.
A factor seems to have been his physical condition which may explain why Amelia didn't relay the lat longs for Gardener Island in her transmissions which I touched on in another thread.
Perhaps we should start a new thread for this discussion out of respect to Betty.
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Agreed
If this does pan out its just a shame she won't be here to see it.
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Helen Betty Brown
http://pattersonirrigator.com/bookmark/25351475/article-Helen Betty Brown
I ran across this article this morning and wanted to post it all for you. She was a remarkable lady and still is a valuable asset to this organization. She will be greatly missed!!
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I guess I am missing something about AE and FN's landing. Do you know if Norwich City was still visible on the side of the ship in 1937? I know this has been talked about before. I am just trying to catch up. So if Norwich City wasn't readable would it be OK to speculate Fred new of the shipwreck? It seems as though this is what I am gathering from the above conversations.
Matt Barth
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I guess I am missing something about AE and FN's landing. Do you know if Norwich City was still visible on the side of the ship in 1937? I know this has been talked about before. I am just trying to catch up. So if Norwich City wasn't readable would it be OK to speculate Fred new of the shipwreck? It seems as though this is what I am gathering from the above conversations.
We don't know whether the name of the ship was still visible in 1937 but it could also have been on the lifeboats that washed up on the beach. I don't have any way of knowing whether Fred had heard about the wreck. As far as I know it got no press coverage in the U.S. at the time. In 1929 Fred was working out of New Orleans.
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I guess I am missing something about AE and FN's landing. Do you know if Norwich City was still visible on the side of the ship in 1937? I know this has been talked about before. I am just trying to catch up. So if Norwich City wasn't readable would it be OK to speculate Fred new of the shipwreck? It seems as though this is what I am gathering from the above conversations.
We don't know whether the name of the ship was still visible in 1937 (it broke off and sank in January 1939) but it could also have been on the lifeboats that washed up on the beach. I don't have any way of knowing whether Fred had heard about the wreck. As far as I know it got no press coverage in the U.S. at the time. In 1929 Fred was working out of New Orleans.
Since the stern of SS Norwich City was still present in 1937, it has been speculated that her name might have been painted and visible on the stern (https://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,331.msg3183.html#msg3183), even if the fire had obliterated the markings on the bow. I've just realized that the first photo on TIGHAR's Research Bulletin 65 (http://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Research/Bulletins/65_DebrisFieldAnalysis/65_DebrisFieldAnalysis.html) (a photo said to have been taken in 1935) shows some white patches on the stern that might be evidence of a name painted there.
BTW, the remark under that photo in Research Bulletin 65 that the 1935 photo "is the earliest known picture of Norwich City aground on the reef at Gardner Island" is no longer true. A picture apparently taken on 29 November 1929 during the rescue operation (http://reardonsmithships.co.uk/norwichcity1002.php)that ensued after the shipwreck is viewable on the website of Reardon Smith Ships.
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BTW, the remark under that photo in Research Bulletin 65 that the 1935 photo "is the earliest known picture of Norwich City aground on the reef at Gardner Island" is no longer true. A picture apparently taken on 29 November 1929 during the rescue operation (http://reardonsmithships.co.uk/norwichcity1002.php)that ensued after the shipwreck is viewable on the website of Reardon Smith Ships.
I love it when further research makes a Research Bulletin obsolete.
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I can't find the image just at the moment, but I recall one of the New Zealand Air Force shots showing white labeling on the port bow of the ship where Norwich City was known to be painted.
Was any refinement done to that photo to make the image clearer?
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Was any refinement done to that photo to make the image clearer?
No. I try to be careful to only ask Jeff Glickman to work on questions that are vital to the investigation.
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Sad news indeed! I so hoped she would have stayed alive long enough to 'witness' the discovery of the Electra, and the proof that her notebook was truthful and accurate! RIP Betty! It will still happen.
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Sad news. I, too, wish she would have lived to see the Electra found. She made such a great contribution to the Earhart disappearance. R.I.P. Betty.