Established in February 1996, by Elizabeth and the estate of George, in memory of their parents – J. Clifford Hendrix, Lou Etta Hendrix, Herman D. Lowe, and Zilah Kays Lowe. This scholarship is awarded to undergraduate students studying electrical engineering.
George and Elizabeth (Betty) Hendrix
A remembrance by their nephew, John Lowe, June 2023
George and Betty Hendrix met by chance at their place of employment, their relationship was forged during the Great Depression and they married at the beginning of World War II. They were a popular couple with family, friends and business associates and were always generous. Except during the War, they were never far apart.
Betty and George both came from humble backgrounds. Betty was my father’s youngest sister and she was my favorite aunt. My father’s family grew up near the small village of Vincent in southeastern Ohio near the Ohio River. George grew up in Anderson, Indiana. Both families subsisted on farming.
When Betty graduated from high school she attended business school in Zanesville, Ohio and then moved to Columbus where in the spring of 1929 she was hired to be a clerk at the Ohio Company, an investment firm owned by the Wolfe family who also owned The Ohio National Bank, The Columbus Dispatch, Schiff Shoes and the WBNS TV and radio stations. WBNS stands for Wolfe’s Banks, Newspapers and Shoes.
George attended Ohio State on a basketball scholarship in the late 1920s. He graduated with a business degree but did not know what to do next. George was a member of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity and one of his fraternity brothers told him to apply for a job at the Ohio Company and tell them who sent him. That fraternity brother was one of the Wolfe boys, and of course they hired George on his recommendation. He was initially an analyst and then moved up to be a broker. And this is where Betty and George met.
Betty belonged to a sorority in the YWCA downtown and they had a dance where each of the sisters was supposed to invite their boss. But Betty’s boss was married with children, and she felt it would be inappropriate to ask him to a dance. So, she asked the young analyst, George, she had seen around the office. After a lengthy courtship, they were married in Florida just after he joined the army in WWII and just before he was shipped overseas – to South America. Even though his letters home were censored, they had a secret code so she would always know where he was.
After the war they moved in with George’s mother in a small two-bedroom house in Bexley. She was a recent widow and needed help. They would live in that home for almost the rest of their lives. It is unfortunate that Betty and George never had children because they would have made great parents.
Over the years they both moved up in the Ohio Company, George to a senior-level position and Betty to the Executive Secretary to the President of the company. The Ohio Company did not have a retirement plan for its employees but through wise investing, George was able to accumulate a tidy sum which continued to grow even after they retired.
All throughout her professional career, Betty suffered from migraines and rheumatoid arthritis. The knuckles in her hands were swollen and painful, but she never complained. Six months after she retired the headaches and arthritic pain were all gone. They were related to the stress in her job. One of her duties was to calculate the pay, with all of the withholdings, of each employee and then deliver their pay in cash. And she did it by hand – no calculators or computers in those days. Her hands improved so much after retirement that she even took up hooking rugs.
They lived simple and frugal lives. They never bought a bigger house although they could afford it. They did not take vacations. But George’s one passion was golf and he did belong to a golf club. Betty really did not have any hobbies of her own but she always went with George when he played golf and served as his caddy and would help spot his ball. She loved the long walks on the golf course. Even when George played with his friends she went along. She was accepted as one of the gang. They always seemed to be together. If George had to go to the hospital Betty would be by his side day and night.
Actually, they did have one other passion. They both loved Ohio State and Ohio State football. They went to most of the games and were even present during the famous “Snow Bowl” in 1950.
When they retired they did buy a condo in Florida and would go there six months out of the year. And you guessed it, George played golf and Betty was right there with him. When it got to the point where George could no longer drive I would drive them down in the fall in their car and then fly back and would then reverse the process in the Spring to bring them home. They were popular and had a great support group in Florida. After George passed, I continued to drive Betty to Florida each Fall until it wasn’t safe for her to be there by herself.
The bulk of their estate went to The Ohio State University’s Scholarship Endowment because they wanted to give back to the university that had helped George with a basketball scholarship so many years before. They would have been thrilled at how many deserving students have benefitted from their gift.
As Paul Harvey would end his daily radio show, “And now you know the rest of the story.” Everyone should have an Aunt Betty and Uncle George.