We all love you Betty White

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by Aprille Hanson Spivey 

2021 had to make one last gut punch to all of us — Betty White has died on New Year’s Eve. 

I was talking on the phone to my 78-year-old grandmother who gasped as the news flashed across her TV set that the legendary comedian, adored by all, had passed away at 99. She lamented that she was so close to 100. 

I grabbed my phone and saw a text from my best friend, 33 years old, saying “Omg omg omg is it real??? Did Betty White seriously just pass away?? Awww that’s so sad. She was sooo close to 100.” 

My husband also texted, asking if I could write something about White. 
In the span of just a few minutes, multiple people from different generations in just my little world were all impacted and saddened by the passing of White. 

That in itself is almost more inspiring than her career. To be beloved by everyone for being a genuinely funny, caring and talented individual is something that people try their whole lives to achieve. It was effortless for White. That’s not to say she didn’t work hard for her success, but to be that transcendent is a gift from God that can’t be earned. 

Her career is almost too vast to sum up in one article — she pioneered early television with her smile and sharp wit. How many actors can say their career spanned from 1930 to 2021 — no one, as she hit the Guinness World Record for longest work in the medium in 2018. White was loved most notably for Sue Ann Nivens on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” Rose Nylund on “The Golden Girls,” its spinoff “The Golden Place” and most recently Elka Ostrovsky on “Hot in Cleveland.” She was the first woman to produce a sitcom, was a gameshow host, the voice of toy tiger Bitey White in Pixar’s “Toy Story 4” and a guest actress on everything from “The Carol Burnett Show” to “Saturday Night Live.” Her love of the entertainment business seemed to match her love of animals, working with several charities to make their lives better, give a voice to the voiceless. 

I grew to love Betty White for her embodiment of Rose Nylund, the ditzy blonde from the St. Olaf, Minn., with her Norwegian-American musings about small-town life. Whether she was recalling the Great Herring War or how Christmas in St. Olaf without the fruitcake “is like St. Sigmund’s Day without the headless boy, any time Rose said, “Back in St. Olaf,” buckle up, because things were about to get weird and funny. 

White could set up a joke with the best of them: 
“Rose : Can I ask a dumb question?
“Dorothy : Better than anyone I know.”

But what made her ingenious is her unmatched comedic intelligence and range that could make her the setup girl or the one with the most cutting line in every episode: 
“Blanche : What was your first impression of me?
“Rose : I thought you wore too much makeup and were a slut. I was wrong. You don't wear too much makeup.” 

I grew up watching these four senior women navigate life as roommates in “The Golden Girls.” I loved the show as a child watching it first with my mother and grandparents. I loved it in college, sitting with my two roommates and best friends on my bed to watch “The Golden Girls,” after splitting a cheesecake. We each had our personas of which golden girl we most identified with and I was Rose. 

So knowing that Betty White is gone hits hard on so many levels. White has always been here, gracing us with her humor on television, but more than anything, she is society’s moral compass. 

Betty White connected us beyond politics, beyond religious differences — we could all agree on her. 

We all are shocked because for the past 99 years, White represented our history and our future. I can’t tell you how many times I thought, and saw others voice the same, how during any sort of uncertainty, someone better make sure Betty White is wrapped up in bubble wrap somewhere. 

​White died at her home, 19 days before her 100th birthday on Jan. 17. And on her birthday, theaters across the country had planned to show a documentary-style movie called “Betty White: 100 Years Young — A Birthday Celebration” with an array of celebrity powerhouses and clips from storied career. 

I have no doubt we’ll go on to celebrate her 100 years with gusto, but it won’t be the same. But what death cannot take away is her legacy of kindness, humor and resilience. 

I love you Betty White. We all do. Let’s strive every day to be a little more like Betty White.