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PrintSusan Ford Bales, daughter of late President Gerald Ford and first lady Betty Ford
The latest guest speaker at the Tulsa Ballet's lecture series.
Tulsa’s Susan Ford Bales will be the February guest of Tulsa Ballet’s “Sundays in Studio K” lecture series. Television personality Becky Dixon will begin the program with an interview and then invite questions from the audience.
Bales is the daughter of the late President Gerald R. Ford and Betty Ford. She is a professional writer and photojournalist, launched National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in 1984 with her mother and helped start Tulsa’s Race for the Cure in 1996.
Here, Bales discusses her parents, her causes and her life in Tulsa.
Both of my parents were powerful influences. They truly believed you should get involved in your community and give back to your community. They were public service parents.
I am truly of the sandwich generation — aging mother and in-laws. Small grandchildren, daughters in their 20s and three stepsons. I’m planning a wedding for one of my daughters, attending a school recital by my 3 1/2-year-old granddaughter and visiting my 91-year-old mother in Palm Springs, Calif.
Don’t think of me as a superstar. I’m a normal person. I was a PTA mom when my girls were in Eliot Elementary and Cascia Middle School. I start my day with exercise. After lunch, I’m usually on conference calls or writing letters. I love gardening and needlework. In fact, I’m now making the ring-bearer’s pillow for my daughter’s wedding.
I’m married to Vaden Bales (an attorney with the Tulsa law firm of Riggs, Abney, Neal, Turpen, Orbison and Lewis). We first met in 1976 when he was in law school in Topeka, Kan., and I was a photojournalist intern at the Topeka Capital Journal. Fourteen years later, we reconnected. We left Tulsa for 11 years to live in Albuquerque but came back because we missed Tulsa.
I spend three to five days a month in Palm Springs, where I’m chairman of the board of the Betty Ford Center (for alcohol and chemical dependency). I’m on the boards of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library (in Ann Arbor, Mich.) and the Gerald R. Ford Museum (in Grand Rapids, Mich.).
I don’t do as much public speaking about breast cancer awareness as I once did because I travel so much. Thirty years ago, a woman’s diagnosis of breast cancer was a death sentence. Mother brought breast cancer out of the closet. Technology, surgery and research have changed. We don’t have massive mastectomies now that my mother had. We have mammograms and self-exams. I started having mammograms when I was 30 because I’m at high risk; my mother and grandmother both had breast cancer. My daughters are 27 and 29 and I’m talking to them about mammograms. (Some new recommendations call for a woman to begin mammograms at age 50), but I’m sticking with my original guidelines. I’m not changing my views. Each woman should talk to her doctor.
(I am excited about) helping launch the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford — a new nuclear aircraft carrier being built at a cost of $13 billion. (It is the lead ship of the U.S. Navy’s supercarriers, an update from the Nimitz-class carriers.)
They work 24/7 and it will take three years to complete. Ship builders are superstitious and every ship has a female sponsor. That’s what I am. Lots of ceremonies are involved — christening, commissioning and more. Last November, I was at the keeling ceremony.
When I was a high school senior and college freshman, I came to think of them (the Secret Service) like my three older brothers. There won’t be Secret Service at the Studio K talk. Thankfully.
When: 2 p.m., Feb. 28
Where: Tulsa Ballet, 1212 E. 45th Place
How: Tickets, $25. Visit Tulsa Ballet box office, call 749-6407 or visit www.tulsaballet.com for more information.
