Happy Birthday, Beth: The Foundation

"As God is my witness, I'll never go hungry again!" vowed Scarlet O'Hara in Margaret Mitchell's Gone With The Wind. Elizabeth Benson's vow to leave behind the poverty-stricken life of her childhood on the banks of the Tennessee River is just as strong. The year is 1946, and Elizabeth is born. At the age of ten, tragedy strikes and forces her family to leave the river and start a new life in the city, a world completely unknown to her. Beth's story continues throughout the tremulous years of the early sixties. These are the years of unrest with Russia, the assassination of President Kennedy, and the Civil Rights Movement. These events and her determination to make a better life for herself result in a life-changing decision that lays the foundation for her future. However, the method she chooses has everlasting repercussions.