Betty Ford Passes Away
Betty Ford has died at the age of 93, Friday. The widow of late former President Gerald Ford, who was also the co-founder of an eponymous addiction center in California died late Friday evening with her family by her side.
The former dancer and model was married to William Warren for five years before she divorced, and later married Gerald Ford in 1948.
Originally born Elizabeth Anne Bloomer in Chicago, Betty Ford was an integral part of her husband’s successful campaign to become a U.S. congressman in 1948. Gerald Ford served in the Capitol for 25 years before being tapped as President Richard Nixon's vice president in place of Spiro T. Agnew.
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Gerald Ford later became the 38th president of America, and Betty stood by him as the First Lady. She became an outspoken person in the media and was named in 1975 as Newsweek’s “Woman of the Year.”
However, a year after her husband exited the White House Betty Ford was treated for alcohol and painkiller drug abuse.
That was to become the platform for a number of autobiographies and the opening in 1982 of the Betty Ford Center in California. The center has become one of the most-famous for alcohol and drug treatment in the world, and has hosted a number of high-profile celebrities.
