"Grandma Betty Loses Her Job; Becomes Internet Hero" by Becky Barnett
 

I recently became acquainted with a woman, know as Grandma Betty. She has personally been an inspiration to me.

Betty took a difficult situation and turned it around into a successful opportunity – one in which she makes a difference in many lives. I hope her story will inspire you as well.

Betty Fox, a Grandmother in Queens, New York, will not soon forget February 20, 1998. It was the day the company for whom she worked decided to relocate and she lost her job. At the age of 68, her prospects of finding another job were bleak.

But this is not the end of the story for Betty Fox. Betty, affectionately called Grandma Betty, started from scratch and has become an Internet hero by helping senior citizens make sense of the Internet.

Betty says, "On the day I was laid off, I cried until there were no tears left. The ensuing weeks were filled with boredom and depression. These are feelings anyone laid off faces, but especially senior citizens."

Soon after her layoff, Betty’s son introduced her to the Internet. Betty said, "I didn’t know Internet from Shminternet, but I have always loved to communicate with people, research things, and to read."

Betty’s son bought her WebTV, a device that attaches to a television set, and using a telephone line, connects to the Internet. Shortly thereafter, she was on the Internet for the first time – from the comfort of her living room.

She started looking for things of interest to seniors. She tried searching on popular search engines and exclaimed, "Oy! What a mess!"

On her first attempt, she looked for a peach pie recipe. She went to one of the major search engines and typed in "peaches." In a few seconds, she had 85,870 Web pages with the word peaches in them. She says, "I felt like I had just won Bingo."

But then she started looking at the pages found by the Search Engine. She says, "I nearly fell off the couch with disbelief. I found thousands of pornographic sites with girls referring to themselves as "peaches." I also found thousands of sites with nothing to do with peaches, peach wholesalers in South America, and on and on. I would have spent six months going through that list without finding a peach pie recipe."

Next, Betty started searching for Web sites for "seniors." Again, the Search Engine listed 805,750 Web sites, but many of the Web sites were for seniors in high school and college. Many of the sites had outdated information, were no longer in operation, or had broken links. She took out her calculator and estimated it would take her a year and a half, working 24 hours a day, to visit all the sites. She says, "There had to be a better way."

She decided at that moment to learn as much as she possibly could about the Internet and to create her own active senior citizen doorway to the Web. She decided to call it Grandma Betty.

"Grandma" Betty read about creating Web sites. She surfed the Internet fourteen hours a day. Her son helped her develop the Web site and in a few short months, the site was up and running.

Today, Betty spends all of her time improving and adding to her Web site. She has cataloged thousands of hyperlinks to Web sites of interest and value to adults over the age of fifty.

She also personally answers hundreds of email questions each week on all aspects of making the best use of the Internet. She publishes a free weekly newsletter on Internet happenings emailed to anyone who requests it.

Her Web site has many different links on health, entertainment, food, government, book recommendations, discounts, and free products. Before she adds an active senior web site, she visits the site and reviews it for quality and relevance.

Grandma Betty is in the process of adding an online mall where she will sell books, music, computer software, vitamins, and more. If an active senior has a need, they can surely find it at www.GrandmaBetty.com.

I like Grandma Betty’s web site a great deal. I like the picture of her holding her grandson. But the part I like best is her contact form. Here she invites her Web site visitors to send her questions and states, "I ask you, if you can't count on Grandma, who can you count on?"

And Betty is surely one Grandma you can count on! Congratulations, Betty! You are a shining example to us all!

Until my next article, I wish you great prosperity and 'Net success!

Back to articles index.