Retirement from YWCA

After directing 3 YWCAs for a total of 24 years, I retired in 2003 to make writing books for children and school visits a full time career.  At a retirement dinner attended by more than 200 guests, I received a laptop computer that has allowed me to give Power Point presentations in schools, libraries and at other events for children, teachers and librarians.  Saying good-bye to YWCA Board and Staff was not easy and so I postponed it for about 9 months, by taking on the largest volunteer commitment of my entire 30 year career in social services.

I offered to direct a building project that resulted in the YWCA of Bucks County getting the first “owned” building – the YWCA Program Outreach Center, in Trevose, PA.  At the dedication ceremony of the completely renovated building with addition of a second floor and lovely grounds, I was deeply touched to learn that the Board named the large Community Room of the Center in my honor.  GE-Betz, the Water Technology division of GE donated the grounds, the one-story building and costs to make the property environmentally safe, while Holland Enterprises our builder, the Home Builders Association, C&M Home Builders and many other companies and individuals also made substantial contributions to the project.

 

Honorary Doctorate

Betty Tatham received the honorary degree Doctor of Public Service from Bucks County Community College in Newtown on May 22nd, 2003.  After she gave the commencement address, Dr. James Linksz, President of the College, recognized Betty for her work as Executive Director of the YWCA of Bucks County during the past 11 years until her retirement the previous month.

Current Commitments

However, “good-bye” didn’t last long and I was soon asked to serve on the YWCA’s Advisory Council and the World Council of the YWCA invited me to become a member to help support YWCAs in 120 countries around the globe.  Since I especially love to work with and for children, I also accepted an appointment from Bucks County Commissioners to the Advisory Board of Bucks County Children and Youth.  Other volunteer interests include environmental causes and I enjoy being a member of Environmental Defense, the World Wildlife Fund, the Audubon Society the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Monterey Bay Aquarium and several other organizations that work to protect animals and the environment.

What I’m Writing Now

I recently completed writing a manuscript about pandas after doing some of the research in Chengdu, China last year, reading several dozen books on the subject, browsing the Internet and getting valuable information from the World Wildlife Fund.  Since these loveable animals are “highly endangered,” according to WWF and there are fewer than 2000 left in the whole world, I want to raise awareness about the need to keep them and other endangered species from extinction.

Other recent projects are two fiction picture book manuscripts for pre-school age children that are also currently being considered by an editor and two nonfiction picture books for 5 to 9 year old children.  So far all of my books have been about animals, but I am now writing my first historical novel and it’s not about animals.

For more than a year I have been working on a middle grade novel set in Bucks County during the American Revolutionary War.  Doing research at Washington Crossing Museum, the David Library, the Mercer Museum and a few other locations has been both fascinating and very time consuming.  I have read the “first page” of this story to some of the older students during school visits and reactions have been very positive.  So I will continue, even though I still have to write two-thirds of the manuscript – and that’s only the first draft!  Re-writing usually takes much longer than first drafts, but as I tell students – if you want a gem of a book, you have to keep “polishing and polishing!”

More News Coming Soon.......