One more shoutout for Betty — and for excellence
Ireally never liked calling her “Betty,” though I will here. She was “Dr. Siegel.” I suspect the reason I have preferred “Dr. Siegel” is that she was as regal as she was common. In terms of personality, what better combination could one wish for? One wonders if an educator’s death has ever provoked as many kind comments as has the recent death of this lady.
Marietta Daily Journal readers know about Betty’s outstanding tenure as president of Kennesaw State University as well as her deep interest in her community. What they may not know about is her multifaceted personality. Having taught and tutored at KSU for 20 years and having seen her in different settings, I can testify to her genuineness, charm and versatility.
It probably won’t surprise too many people to learn Betty was an absolute cut-up. Anyone around her for only five minutes could tell that one of her greatest intentions was to enjoy life. In 1990 at the graduation ceremony for North Cobb High School, I learned just how far she took that intention.
At this ceremony Betty sat onstage on the front row with the principal, North Cobb’s school board member and other dignitaries. I was seated behind her. Before (thank goodness) Betty delivered the commencement address, I gave a brief baccalaureate talk. When our speeches were over, graduates lined up to walk across the stage to receive their diplomas. Within minutes after the line began, Betty moved back to an empty chair beside mine, leaned over, and whispered, “Didn’t wanna get these new shoes tromped on.” I knew better. She was making more room for the graduates.
Suffice it to say that throughout the ceremony, hidden behind the tight line of graduates, Betty cut up. Eventually I felt comfortable enough to join in and mix it with her as best I could. Betty swooned and whispered, “How promising these young folks look.” She joked, “You should have seen what I looked like when I graduated from high school.” I got bold: “Did you have coal miner’s dust all over your face?” Betty fought to muffle her laughing for the next five minutes.
More important is what Betty did for a friend of mine. For three months that friend had been calling in employees at a large Atlanta bank to tell them they were being laid off. It was getting her down. One late afternoon she drove from work to a night class at KSU. Walking to her class, my friend was so overcome by her unhappy task at work that she had to sit down on a curb to collect herself. Within moments Betty Siegel came by, stopped and asked if she could be of help. When my friend explained why she was sitting there, Betty joined her on the curb, asked if she had had supper, and offered her the apple in her purse.
A cut-up, a servant leader, but Betty was more still. While working as a tutor in the KSU English Department, I joined English professor Dr. Robert Barrier, political science professor Dr. Christina Jeffrey, and several students in producing an “underground” newspaper, “The Spectator,” to counter the liberal-leaning college newspaper. When Betty appointed a vice president for diversity, I satirized her a bit in “The Spectator.” After quoting one of our student staff members who had remarked that “conservative students are already Kennesaw State’s diversity,” I wrote that President Siegel was providing us with a “diversity cop.”
At the time I didn’t know if Betty ever read “The Spectator,” but five years later just after being elected to the state House of Representatives for northwest Cobb, I received a call from her. She wished to talk since she read I was seeking membership on the House Education Committee.
Over dinner with Betty, one of her vice presidents and my wife, I nervously asked her if she ever read the short-lived “underground” conservative student newspaper. She replied, “Of course I did, and I thought your label, ‘diversity cop,’ was hilarious.” Not to my surprise Betty was neither little nor petty nor unforgiving. She was big-minded and tolerant of different opinions even when she was the object of satire.
I’ve always believed that nobody has a better platform for modeling and advancing excellence than employers, managers, supervisors, administrators or any such who are “over” others. Betty was “over” large staffs, faculties and thousands of students and she modeled excellence of every stripe, especially excellence of spirit.
No wonder she was so respected and honored then and is regaled by so many now.