European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 28, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Former first ladies Betty Ford right and Rosalynn Carter attend a Gerald r. Ford museum conference. Betty Ford overcomes by Beverly Beyette los Angeles times Etty Ford looks Back with neither nostalgia nor regret. The former first lady has come to see her husband s defeat by Jimmy Carter in 1976 As a god Given gift. I was Given my  she is seated in the Large living room of the Fords desert Home on the thunderbird country club Golf course at Rancho Mirage Calif. The room where on april 1,1978, her husband and four grown children together with two medical professionals delivered the ultimatum that changed the course of hundreds of lives she was an alcoholic and must seek treatment her family told her. A week after that crisis intervention after detoxification she entered the chemical dependency program at Long Beach naval Hospital in Long Beach South of los Angeles. Just 41/2 years later in october 1982, the Betty Ford Center at Eisenhower medical Center in Rancho Mirage was dedicated by vice president George Bush and the first patients admitted. Today there Are 10,000 alumni who have sought the Center s help in conquering chemical dependency. Had Gerald Ford won election in 1976, she is certain none of that would have happened. I believe things come and go in your life As they re meant to she says. I truly believe that. I was allowed to be a communicator to help other  in the 28 months the Fords occupied the White House from aug. 9,1974, when president Richard m. Nixon resigned in the Wake of the watergate scandal until the inauguration of Jimmy Carter on Jan. 20,1977 we were unaware of my dependency this disease the illness that was a part of my life and was progressing on a monthly  in a second Ford term she says it would have had to surface. I think i would have gotten sicker. And it would have been addressed but maybe in a less Public Way. In spite of the fact that we had been very open and addressed my Mastectomy in september 1974i think there would have been a hesitancy on the part of the people who surrounded us to go Public with the  could the secret have been kept for four More years i doubt it she says Given the stress she was. Under the pain from a pinched  nerve that had resulted in an addiction As Well As to what she has called a gourmet collection of prescription drugs and the Speed at which her alcoholism was progressing. She recalls an interview As first lady with a women s Wear daily reporter who had written about her drinking and taking valium. Mrs. Ford remembers her reaction that the writer was focusing too much on a personal  that resentment was not atypical of what Betty Ford now hears routinely from patients at the Betty Ford Center. Betty Ford a one time fashion Model has remained elegantly slender. She appears tanned and fit despite the trauma of quadruple bypass surgery in november 1987. I had complications she says necessitating four More surgeries All in a five month period. In the aftermath mrs. Ford 70, has Cut Down on her speaking engagements and acknowledges that travel no longer holds the lure it once did. If the Betty Ford Center is her passion it is not an obsession. She has managed to keep what she alls a certain balance in her life i Don t give 100 percent of my time to the recovery of others. I give 100 percent of my time to my own recovery and my own recovery involves being Well and being drug free in order to help other people As a role  no she says she no longer has the urge to drink. The benefits that i have found from sobriety and being drug free have been so great that i just have no desire to return to that other  meditation nutrition and exercise have largely freed her from the pain that led to her addiction. President Ford who was a social Drinker also has Given up liquor to help keep his weight Down and to encourage her. Part of the balance in her life is the support of a closely knit family All of whom gather for christmases at the Fords summer Home in Beaver Creek Colo. Our family Unity has always been a Good 90 percent she says. I d say it goes to 110 percent when anyone gets into difficulties As she did. Saturday january 28, 1-989 the Fords have five grandchildren All girls. Their eldest son Michael 38, associate Dean of students at Wake Forest University in Winston Salem n.c., and his wife Gayle have three daughters Hannah Sarah and Rebekah. Heather and Tyne Are the daughters of Susan 31, who is divorced from Charles Vance a one time secret service agent and lives in Washington . Steven Ford 32, who once played Andy Richards on the daytime soap the Young and the restless now free lances As an actor and Breeds thoroughbred horses dividing time Between Kentucky and his Home in san Luis Obispo Calif. Jack Ford 36, lives in North san Diego county and is with a company that runs California lottery kiosks at shopping centers. Despite her other activities Betty Ford insists my most important role is the role of wife Mother and grandmother and i treasure that above All else. I try to put consideration of my husband s needs first although i Don t think he always thinks that. But after 40 years of marriage we have the Best years of our lives right  today Betty Ford seems to be a woman at peace. Her Home in the desert is a Serene Oasis of greens and Whites. A transplanted easterner who did t know about Winter chill in the desert she says i thought it was going to be hot Here and i Felt these colors would be  but the summer House in Colorado built on four Levels around a great Central staircase is in Complete contrast furnished in warm blues and reds. I love both places and would hate to choose Between them though i suppose some Day if we live to be that old and can t travel Well have to she says. Ill put that off. I m like  at Rancho Mirage a Book of Karsh portraits shares space on a Parrot Green Coffee table with a volume titled America s great Golf  but she says that former president Ford at 75, is so Busy he does t play As much Golf As he used  his involvements Range from Board seats to civic contributions and she adds he is a great supporter of the Center. On feb. 24, the Palm Springs chamber of Commerce will recognize the Fords contributions to the desert Community when it honors them with its citizen of the year award. Mrs. Ford Speaks of her husband s continuing passion for politics. We re very enthusiastic about the  with the Bush presidency she adds i think everybody feels that the problems our country has Are going to get a new look and hopefully some new  in their living room a Glass menagerie of animals includes a quartet of Chubby Crystal elephants Republican elephants she notes an end Wall is dominated by a larger than life portrait of her painted by John Ulbricht to hang in the office of then vice president Ford. Before it Ever got done he was already in the White House she says and ultimately it was Hung on the second floor at 1600 Pennsylvania ave. She laughs and says it has a place of Honor in the living room in Rancho Mirage largely because Laura Mako their decorator needed something in compatible colors to cover a lot of Blackwall. I quite like it  of the portrait though her husband thinks it makes her look a bit like a  As Betty Ford sees her guests to the door a Taffy coloured Cocker Spaniel returns from an Outing and leaps on her exuberantly. She introduces Happy Short for Happy birthday a gift from the Ford children As the world s most spoiled pet the successor to Liberty the Golden retriever now dead that lived in the Ford White House. There is Little resemblance Between Betty Ford and the woman she was in 1978, a woman she herself has described on reflection As this  Dopey Pill Pusher sitting around  sharing with others who Are recovering is she knows both very rewarding and insurance against backtracking. Since coming out As an alcoholic she quipped in her Book Betty a glad Awakening she has talked so much about it that there May be people who wish i d go Back  that is not Likely. Nor is she resting on any laurels. Always Betty Ford reminds herself and others you have to win again tomorrow to keep showing up for  the stars and stripes Page 13