Brief Biographical Sketch
Jack Betterly
My wife is Nancy Cushman, who spent years at Emma Willard School, first as Counselor and then as
Director of Practicum. We lived in a duplex on campus and now, retired in Albuquerque, have four grown children - all scattered about the country. At last count, we had four grandchildren. We have two
cats, Tiger and Shiva, who allow us to live with them conditionally
and seem to require more time of us than our children did. Nancy and I both serve as volunteer docents at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Museum and are active in the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Albuquerque. I am on the Teaching Committee of the World History Associaion and spend a great deal of time online on their listservs, often advising or mentoring young teachers. As well, I am on the editorial board of the association's e-journal, World History Connected.
I was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1935 when my
father was a young army officer on the staff of, and then
commanding, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps in Virginia.
When World War II broke out Dad was at the district headquarters
in Richmond but in transit to a new assignment in Washington on the staff of General George C. Marshall.
I attended elementary school in Arlington, Virginia. After the
war we returned to the old Thomas farmhouse in Spring Brook
Township, Pennsylvania,about 18 miles southeast of Scranton.
The house had no running water. It had a coal stove in the
kitchen and a pot-bellied stove in the parlor, a 60-foot crank
well, and a two-seater outhouse. I loved it, and attended a very small high
school in the hamlet of Moscow.
I attended college quite unexpectedly when, the Korean War
having broken out, the Ford Foundation awarded a series of Pre-
Induction Scholarships. As it turned out, the war ended before I
could be inducted so I graduated with my A.B. in history in 1955
from Yale University. I enlisted for three years in the infantry in
the Panama Canal Zone.
When I was discharged in 1958 I took my first teaching
position at Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, Pennsylvania, where
I taught history for four years before accepting a position as head
of the history department at Saint Mary's Hall in San Antonio,
Texas, a position I also held for four years, during which I earned
my M.A. in history from Harvard University. I was hired by Bill Dietel
to come to Emma Willard School in the fall of 1966, and have been
here since then. I retired in June, 2000. I continued to live on campus for a year, but am now retired in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I am involved in the World History Association, write articles, and do educational consulting.
Our Former Emma Willard Duplex In Summer
My Son's Store
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Genealogy Page
A Family Gallery
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Folks I Have Known and Loved
My Buddhist Reflections
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