Today we’d like to introduce you to Betty Mason.
Hi Betty, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
“God doesn’t stop the storm…God walks you through it” This is a love story a very bittersweet one. I was 40 years old. The mom of a cute 9 year old boy named Houston, Wife to a man named Bruce. Life was good but still I had wished for another child I was told wouldn’t happen. SURPRISE!! Pregnant having a baby girl! Born 9/19/1996 and we named her Katy. She and her brother were so close even with a age difference of ten years. Katy was a Dream come true feared nothing. She rode on horses with me at three! She was an ice skater, traveled with a dancing troup , Nashville Dance Center. Swimming Team At Seven Hills. She was a great athelte travel soccer Harpeth Soccer, played at Lipscomb Middle School wanted her on the Varsity team. Youngest Jump Marshall at the Iroquois Steeplechase, 18. Worked at Saddle UP! with the Vet Tech her Jr and Sr. years of high school. at 15 it all started going down hill that when the addiction crepted into her life and the boy, we call “the parasite” entered in introducing her to meth and needles. We lost Katy and she lost her promising future, never to go to college, have real love, get married, have children. A lot of chapters not to be written just turned the page to “The End”. I was with her on 5/14/2016, her favorite day, Steeplechase day. She was 19 and when she died I promised her I would help others learn about addiction, preventive education and harm reduction. I also would help others like her battling the waves of addiction. There’s no expiration date on promises we make to our children living or dead. With the promise i made to Katy, our daughter gave me a tender shove through the most painful experience I have ever experienced turning pain into purpose. The hole in my heart? It’s still there but the jagged edges are smoother with wells open to loving others. She gave my heart more bandwidth than I ever thought possible. my community became my family. I started a chapter of GRASP (grief recovery after substance passing) in Nashville with my co-facilitator, Evie Grander. We have after 6 years had to retire our chapter to move on to other needs. I was on the board of directors for Mending Hearts , the states largest recovery center for women. I am now on their advisory board. I am the Chairperson for Tennessee’s Community Abatement Panel which supports the OAC (Opioid Abatement Council of Tennessee) The beginning of all of this stemmed from the obituary I wrote for the Tennessean. The editor saw it took it to Brad Schmidt. Brad did a 4 page story on Katy, Bruce and me. I then spoke at his Story Tellers Evening at Vanderbilt (sold out crowd). Thats where I met Trina Frierson, the Founder of Mending Hearts.. The wind was under my sails. I have spoken at fund raisers, churches, schools. Belmont Social Work Department. I cut my teeth on being a grandmother with Lily and Mimi Hunt who affectionately named me Glama when they were 4 and 6 and our now 14 and 16 and my advisors on our youth population.We took a wheel barrel around the Easter of 2021` Covid when kids couldn’t have easter egg hunts we delivered gift bags. Picture with Lily and Mimi and the wheel barrel Bruce painted blue with bunnies for the occasion) I’m a grandparent stand -in at schools programs and plays when grandparents can make it to town!
(Picture of me with Silas at Ensworth with face masks pulled down.) We had a big Halloween Party 2021 during covid Vui and I did soups and chilis neighbors brought deserts. All outside with fire .pits and Halloween movies on the big screen. (I followed all the covid rules providing enough space in our front yard for 75 people, I had all the rules since the mayors office, Vanderbilt and Meharry were clients at my agency, FINN. I know I am skipping around on timelines sorry! I am now a proud glama of a sweet 19 month baby girl, named Hana. Houston and his partner Kanako are so very happy! I staying on the path Katy guided me to until someday when I see her again and she tells me all is GUCCI Mom!!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Grief. People not understanding the way they set back the progress of defeating addiction because of the high level of Shame and Stigma placed on people in recovery . I’m 70 and I worry I won’t live long enough to do my daughter’s legacy justice. Or help people become educated aware of what to protect the family and friends from. Helping those in the pits of addiction know they are loved. Help families raising children of addicted parents suffering with mental and physical disabilities get the financial and medical hep they need. I hope to live long enough for a more important emphasis put on Mental Health (Addiction and Mental Health issues are related. I have started and hope to finish a book about Katy called “Did you know Katy?”
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
42 years in Public Relations/Marketing/Advertising love creatives!!!! Last agency was FINN Partners. Bosses were Sean Williams(like another son to me he was at the hospital with me when Katy died) and Nelson Eddy (who just retired he’s the historian for Jack Daniel’s one of my favorite clients!!!! Boy do i have stories) Pantone Book was my bible! I’ve worked at nearly every agency in Nashville we are gypsies!!
Contact Info:
- Facebook: Betty Wayland Mason
