1984 - Betsy Ross

Interviewed by Peter Rumsey and Jerry Blow on June 11, 2010

Betsy Ross and her husband John Clay first moved to Oakwood in 1984. They raised their two sons in Oakwood. In addition to spearheading the Oakwood Commons Park effort, Betsy has designed renovations for 14 historic Oakwood homes. Betsy and John currently live at 513 Polk Street.

“(The idea for the Oakwood Commons Park) all started with getting some land that could be used by the community for (our) events… That whole process took about five years. It seemed that whenever there was a stumbling block–and there were many–someone would step up to get us through that latest bump in the road. To me, that was the miracle of it all. We got discouraged at a lot of points. We thought we’d never raise the money or find the piece of land… I have long lists of people who contributed their time or their money. I guess that’s part of the beauty of this neighborhood. The skills and talents you find that you need to move a project forward are here. You just got to connect.

“The biggest challenge John and I are facing now is my diagnosis almost a year ago. I have stage four lung cancer… and I want to say… I’ve seen a whole other side of Oakwood… Not only is Oakwood a wonderful place to live in and rear a family in, but also to die in. That’s what I’ve learned in the last year.”