BRIDGEWATER, Va. – It is noon at Bridgewater College. Students are lining up in the KCC for the lunch rush. At the counter, a woman with orange-blonde hair and blue eyes is greeting students who enter and ensuring everything runs smoothly. On this particular day, she is wearing an orange sweater and a smile. 

“Hi, How are you, Ms. Betty?” many students say as they enter the dining hall. 

That question rings through the KCC from the beginning to end of lunch. 

Elizabeth Huffman or “Ms. Betty” loves engaging with students. She also loves the work she does for the students. 

While walking into the KCC and having conversations with Ms. Betty, students learn to live in the moment. Through her job, personal and spiritual life Ms. Betty exemplifies what it means to  embrace life. 

Buttons and more buttons

For 31 years, Ms. Betty was a seamstress. She worked in a sewing factory until it closed down in 1997. 

While Ms. Betty only took the job because it “paid the bills,” in recalling the years she worked Ms. Betty had a proud grin and nostalgic tone reliving those 30 years. 

Ms. Betty’s role in the factory was to cut out and sew button holes into jackets. She said they would get paid by each jacket you made, so once she began and got momentum going she would move quickly. 

“You were on time to make money. Once you start it, you just go to town,” Ms. Betty says. She made 40 to 50 dollars every week or two. 

She began crocheting at the age of 14 and sold blankets, scarves and sweaters to people to make a little extra money. 

“They would buy them off me,” Ms. Betty said, “They just told me they wanted one and then I made it.”

Having the love for crochet she already had, and the skills she learned as a seamstress, she began to make dresses and clothing for herself.  She was joyful in recalling the types of dresses she would make, particularly mentioning A-line dresses. 

John 3:16

Ms. Betty talked a lot about routines she had created for herself that put God at the center. Adrian Taylor, the manager of Parkhurst Dining described Ms. Betty as a “God-fearing woman.” She attends church every Sunday at 10 a.m. in Briery Branch about 15 minutes away from the college. 

Ms. Betty’s love and skill of sewing expanded to her spiritual life. 

“I made this little black dress and put a white collar on it,” Ms. Betty said. “My husband and I had a picture with it when we went to church.”

Ms. Betty has also set a nighttime routine for herself of reading the bible, playing three to four games of solitaire, and watching television right before bed. Ms. Betty chooses the chapter of the bible she reads randomly. 

“I’ve read it all the way through several times, so I just kind of pick the chapter I want to read,” she said.

She eagerly recited her favorite bible verse, John 3:16. Ms. Betty could say the verse almost word for word. 

According to the publicly accessible Bible website Bible Gateway, John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Passion for fashion

Ms. Betty joyfully laughed when mentioning that she shops a lot. She shops after work and after church.

“She just loves to go window shopping and to hang out on the weekends,” Taylor says. 

While Ms. Betty doesn’t watch much television, most of the time when she does, she is watching QVC. Home and holiday decorations are at the top of her shopping list. 

“I love to change my house,” Ms. Betty says. 

Ms. Betty says her home is mostly blue right now, because it is her favorite color (medium blue to be exact).

When shopping in person, she enjoys going to Belk, JCPenney, Kohls and Walmart. She loves to shop at Walmart after church for a snack. 

Climbing the ladder

Ms. Betty worked many positions in the dining hall since starting there in 1997.

Adrian Taylor, the manager of Parkhurst dining says that Huffman “has the personality and the character” for the position of greeting people and managing the front. 

“She’s the only person on staff that has a prefix to her name,” Taylor says, “I think as a community we give her that level of respect because we love her, and that I think is extremely powerful for the college.”

Ms. Betty recounted with a smile how much she loves to work with students and how much of her joy is because of serving students and seeing them everyday. 

Olivia Schmauch, a third year psychology major with a focus in neuroscience and biomedical sciences, describes Ms. Betty as a kind, compassionate and caring person. 

“Anytime, I go into the K, usually she’s the one that is at the table where I swipe in,” Schmauch said. 
”They’re always very positive. She’s very sweet. It’s always a hi, how are you, or a good morning. 
Even though she doesn’t say much, it always brightens my day.” 

Taylor says that Ms. Betty is great to work with and an important part of dining services and Parkhurst.