To strangers, Betty White seemed like the kind of person who would bake chocolate chip cookies, knit a soft sweater, and produce a stray Werther’s Original caramel from her purse for you. However, to friends, simply calling White a ‘nice grandma’ would be diminishing. White was a badass who I feel privileged to have cherished while she was still living.
White’s hit television series, The Golden Girls, became my comfort show in recent months.
I can hardly recall what I had for dinner last night, nor can I ever remember to water my aloe plant, but I can tell you that The Golden Girls airs on the Hallmark Channel at 10 p.m., the Country Music Television channel at 12 a.m. on weekdays, and TV Land on Sundays starting at 5 a.m.
As I lay on the couch late at night, I could escape to a home in Miami with my two favorite things: adorable old women and snarky comments coming from said old ladies’ mouths.
White starred as Rose Nylund, an airhead from St. Olaf, Minnesota. Her character had many stories to tell but few in her life with the patience to listen.
What stood out to me, and the reason she was one of my favorite characters was the glimmer in White’s eyes filled with innocence and a sense of wonder. The genuineness within which White delivered her lines was heartwarming and her character was easily beloved.
Although The Golden Girls was my favorite project of White’s career, it wasn’t the first time I had heard her name. Later in her career, White emerged from guest-starring on TV shows to claim an iconic status in the 21st century. Unforgettably, in 2010, during the Super Bowl XLIV, she was tackled into a puddle of mud in a Snickers commercial and delivered the punchy line, “That’s not what your girlfriend says.”
Shortly after, a Facebook campaign titled, “Betty White To Host SNL…Please?” succeeded in earning White the title of Saturday Night Live’s oldest host at 88 years old.
Despite winning five Emmy Awards, she also found fulfillment in animal activism at the LA Zoo for more than five decades and was dubbed an Honorary Zookeeper by the American Association of Zoo Keepers.
“I always wanted to be a zookeeper when I was growing up, and I’ve wound up a zookeeper!” White said. “I’ve been working with the Los Angeles Zoo for 45 years! I’m the luckiest old broad on two feet because my life is divided absolutely in half—half animals and half show business.”
When I think of White’s death, I don’t feel so much sadness anymore for two reasons. Firstly, a wise person once told me that technically, White made it to 100 years old. She lived through 25 leap days, meaning the 17 days away from her birthday are null and void.
Also, The Daily Mail once asked White why she hadn’t remarried after the death of her late husband Allen Ludden.
White had responded, “Once you’ve had the best, who needs the rest?”
I never got the meet-and-greet I had hoped for with her, but it’s comforting to know an afterlife is welcoming her with open arms.
The sun is setting in a beautiful, golden-orange sky as a plane flies by. An interlude fades in, accompanied by aerial shots of the Miami beach. The chorus starts—and I jump in, “Thank you for being a friend, Betty.”