NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — We get to hear so many wonderful love stories on Valentine's Day. This year we heard about an event. It was something extraordinarily kind, and we wanted to meet the person behind it.
"Punctuality is important," one woman smiled as her friend walked into a room.
"But you haven't eaten anything, so I'm on time!" the friend laughed back.
Let me tell you something about going to a get together put on by Bettye Gordon. You are not going to leave hungry.
"Do you like when this place is busy and bustling with people?" I asked Bettye, sitting in her home as people scurried around the house.
"Wouldn't live without it!" she answered.
"You're in charge of the good stuff," I told one woman as she juggled heating up chicken, sausage, and ham.
"I sure didn't make it, though!" she said. "We had a lot of help."
You know how it is with good friends. No subject's off-limits.
"Be proud to tell your age, girl," a woman told her friend.
"I'm as young as we can get!" she answered.
Bettye truly values the years she's spent with the people in her life. She and her husband Bishop Jerry E. Gordon were married 48 years.
"He was an excellent husband," Bettye said. "He was very nice, kind. Ten years he's been gone. I would count 58 years we would have been married, which would have been lovely. Valentine's last year, it was lonely. I'm used to him being here with me."
Bettye didn't want others to feel that loneliness. She decided to do something very kind.
"I said I wanted to do something to make someone happy," Bettye said.
She's held a Valentine's Day lunch, a big get together. The attendees were all widows Bettye knows.
"We're all widows of pastors of churches, and that's why we're here today, to encourage and uplift one another," Bettye said.
There were corsages for all the women there and just quality time together.
"Everything's so good," one woman said as the lunch began. "It's delicious."
"Anyone need anything?"
"Time!" another woman said to laughter at the table.
Let me tell you something about a get-together put on by Bettye Gordon. You will not leave hungry, and you will feel loved.
"This is life," Bettye said. "We must lean on one another. If God gives me strength, and he allows me to be here next year, I will do it next year. I made it possible that they wouldn't be lonely."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
Breaking barriers and moving to the beat! One local dance company is making it possible for young people in wheelchairs to move and groove like everyone else. Good for your mental health, good for your physical health and good for your dose of positive news today. I hope you check out what they're doing!
-Rebecca Schleicher
