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to museums and patrons. He became a superstar. She gave pop sculptor Claes Oldenburg his first solo museum exhibition in Dallas, and her Beverly Drive estate was filled with works by New York artists who often stayed at the house, from Oldenburg to Rauschenberg to Richard Lindner. "The police would circle the block and stop and harass the long-haired artists that would come and go," remembers Douglas. Many of his school friends weren't allowed to come over because of the large nude painting by Lindner that hung in the entry. "We definitely stuck out in 1960s Dallas." Later, Betty founded the Dallas Museum of Contem- porary Arts, which merged with the Dallas Museum of Art, and for 50 years, she sat on the acquisitions commit- tee for the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, helping shape its permanent collection. Her sphere of influence was substantial: She was on the board of the Newport Art Museum, served as president of the American Federation of Arts in New York, and was a commissioner to what is now the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Her taste in art proved auspicious. She was an early supporter of Fort Worth artist Vernon Fisher, and in the 1980s, she started buying works by David Bates, while he was still a student at Southern Methodist University. For her own collection, she bought works by Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Jim Dine, George Segal, Jasper Johns, Josef Albers, Joan Miró, and Frank Stella. Most of the art, which remains in her homes in Dallas and Newport, has been bequeathed to her children or to museums. In late August, about 240 people gathered from across the country for a late afternoon celebration of Betty's life at Bailey's Beach, the ultra- exclusive private club in Newport where she had been a member all her life. The American flag was lowered to half-mast, and as the sun set, her son, Tom Blake Jr., took the microphone and told funny, touching stories about his mother. He listed her many achievements, and some of the tragedies she'd overcome. It seemed fitting that her life came to an end in such a beautiful place. "Three weeks ago she was sitting at Bailey's drinking a virgin piña colada happy as a clam," he said. "No matter what problems arose in her life, nothing ever diverted her from being happy, grateful, and loving. She was unstoppable." BLAKE BETTY Betty photographed by Josef Astor, 2006. (continued from page 94)