Elsie Blumenthal Fetterman: Her Biography
I am honored to write the authorized biography of a soon-to-be 97-year-old dynamo! Elsie Blumenthal Fetterman.
Chances are you have never heard the name Elsie Blumenthal before.
That’s understandable. After all, there are billions of people in this world; you can’t be expected to know them all. Also, Elsie’s primary focus has always been on societal improvement, not personal recognition.
Here are a few “teasers” from the Elsie Blumenthal Fetterman Story.
Elsie worked with welfare mothers so that they could become self-employed as daycare providers. She made arrangements with U-Mass for these brand-new entrepreneurs to receive academic credit for the work they were doing, then stayed involved with the Office for Children for these women to become licensed.
Some didn’t have adequate yards for the children to play and exercise outside, so Elsie organized communities to make local parks available to these new daycare centers. Then she worked closely with insurance companies to provide fire extinguishers and smoke detectors to keep the children safer when they were inside.
These two major changes made it possible to stay within the United States government's requirements for a licensed facility.
Early on, she lobbied to enable seniors and those with disabilities to live at home instead of in an institution.
She wrote numerous books about consumer affairs, had her own CT television show, some to educate Spanish-speaking consumers against those who targeted and took advantage of them, and wrote a column three days a week for years to educate consumers on their rights. In 1976, Elsie was invited by the US Department of Health and Human Services to help open the first national Office of Consumer Education.
Lady Bird Johnson addressed the gathering when they celebrated some of Elsie’s accomplishments—to that date—with a lifetime award, for . . . “getting involved . . . making a mark on her community . . . and in the lives of so many around her.”
When Elsie saw injustice, she didn’t just shake her head and hope someone else would do something about it . . . she simply got involved and then got many others involved to help make life better for now and for the future.
As Lady Bird said that day, “. . . Elsie just wanted to be the best citizen she could be.”
“What a privilege it is to be at the table with such a remarkable woman!”
This is the story of Elsie Blumenthal Fetterman before Lady Bird’s recognition and since, as she approaches her ninety-seventh year. At 7 years of age, she was working on the account's receivables for her father's hardware store, at she took over the account's payables, and reached out to collect bad debts.
To this day, she wakes at about 5:30-6:00 am, manages her properties, and works tirelessly through the day until late at night writing grant requests for her many favorite causes to make life better for others.
She does all of that, and more! Several times a month, she and her companion go dancing. (And they dance rings around others a fraction of their age.)
Twice a week a physical fitness instructor comes to her home to put her through her paces.
Granted, you may never have heard her name before, but you are not likely to ever forget her.
$4.00 will be donated from every copy sold to Elsie's favorite tax-deductible cause, the Temple Beth Israel Preservation Society, Danielson, CT, —a cultural and historic place to welcome all people, regardless of cultural heritage, religious beliefs, and personal philosophies—all threads that intertwine to form the rich tapestry of human diversity still important today.
