Betty is 84 years old and says that she is one of the luckiest people she knows. She states that when her husband died after 44 very good years together, she suffered no grief. She believes that her upbringing on a farm showed her that ‘there was birth and death and no point in not accepting it’. Betty’s husband had cancer and, while retaining his sense of humour throughout his time in palliative care, made it clear to his visitors that he wanted to die.
Upon retiring from her librarian job, Betty took up kayaking. She also began helping refugees through a sponsorship scheme, worked to publicise the plight of asylum seekers on Manus and Nauru, and offered accommodation to a young Iranian asylum seeker who still lives in one half of her duplex eight years later.