Betty Bland

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THIS ARTICLE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Betty Bland

Betty Bland was President of the Theosophical Society in America from 2002 to 2011.

Early life

Betty _____ was born in Richmond, Virginia on ____1941. In 1961 she married David Horton Bland. She completed her BSHE (home economics) degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1962 and was inducted into the Omicron Nu Honor Society. Mrs. Bland worked for the 4-H system in Granville County, North Carolina; then for the Employment Security Commission as an Employment Interviewer; as a Counselor for the Neighborhood Youth Corps in Durham, North Carolina; and as a Financial Aid Officer for a school’s federal aid scholarship program. She and David have a son and a daughter.

Theosophical work

Mrs. Bland joined the Theosophical Society in 1969 in ______. She helped to establish the Mt. Gilead, North Carolina Study Center, serving as its Secretary. When the family moved to Lansing, Michigan, Betty helped to revive the Study Center there, once again serving as Secretary, and participating in the Michigan Federation. After returning to North Carolina in 1974, she formed a new Study Center in Raleigh. In 1975, Mrs. Bland became a candidate for the office of ________ She served as Vice President ________ . During the years that the Society had its annual convention at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, the Blands attended as a family.

Betty Bland

Presidency

Under Betty Bland, the headquarters estate of the Society was renovated and administrative structure and procedures were modernized. The website of the Society underwent two major redesigns during Mrs. Bland's tenure. The TSA experimented with Spanish-language content,........... Many other technological upgrades took place during the Bland years: improved audiovisual equipment and computers; new wiring in the server room; Another innovation was an Internet discussion group called the Theosophical Community, and an important new offering was an E-newsletter that has grown to having a large readership.

A Capital Funds Campaign raised over two million dollars to finance many of these improvements and also established an endowment in support of programming. Betty's husband David provided great leadership in the execution of most of these projects.

Improvements to the headquarters estate were a major example of the Blands' teamwork:

• Major renovation of the Mills Building that houses the Quest Bookshop and the offices of the Theosophical Publishing House.
• Renovation of the auditorium, kitchen and dining room, and several bathrooms in visitors’ rooms.
• Waterproofing the elevator shaft.
• Installation of fire alarm system linked to the Wheaton Fire Department.
• Installation of security lighting.
• Planting of numerous trees and cleaning up damage from a small tornado and other wind storms.

In 2005, the family of Fritz and Dora Kunz offered to donate their papers, art, photographs, and audiotapes, so David and Betty drove to Seattle to collect the materials. With a grant from the Sellon family, Mrs. Bland hired a professional archivist to process the valuable collection. When Montana member Warren Schwartz offered two spectacular pieces of petrified wood from his ranch, the Blands drove west to receive the gift.

The Bland administration experimented with different forms of recruiting new members, as membership rolls diminished. The Olcott Institute was discontinued, and the schedule of national speakers was cut back somewhat. Instead, four regional conferences were planned with the intention of drawing interest by using nationally known speakers to address special topics:

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The Society sponsored two trips to Tibet in 2007 and 2008???

David Bland managed the Theosophical Publishing House, and put it on a more businesslike footing. He also reached out to the public, becoming president of the Wheaton Chamber of Commerce. He involved the Society in local festivals and events, and arranged for the Rogers Building to be used as a polling place in elections.

In 2010, Mrs. Bland arranged for an audience with the Dalai Lama when he was speaking in Iowa. She drove with her husband David and Tim and Lily Boyd. That meeting led to a visit of the Tibetan Buddhist leader to Chicago for a series of interfaith events that drew more than ten thousand people and raised over $400,000 for Tibetan charities.

In addition to her many other activities, Mrs. Bland lectured at lodges, study groups, and federation meetings. In 2006, she delivered the Blavatsky Lecture in England, on the subject of "The Virtuous Key."

Betty Bland

Writings

It is traditional for each President of the TSA to act as Editor in Chief of the national periodicals, and Betty Bland edited Quest magazine and the Messenger member newsletter. She wrote regular columns in each - the "President's Diary" and "Viewpoint" in Quest and _________ in Messenger. The Union Index of Theosophical Periodicals lists over 150 articles by and about Betty Bland. Many are available at the Quest web page. These are examples:

• "Viewpoint: The Light of the World" Quest 96.4 (July-August, 2008), 124. Available at TSA website.
• "Viewpoint: Patterns of Light and Dark" Quest 92.1 (January-February, 2004), 2. Available at TSA website.
• "Viewpoint: The Power of the Water Bearer" Quest 95.6 (November-December, 2007), 204. Available at TSA website.
• "Viewpoint: Sensitive Dependence" Quest 97.2 (Spring, 2009), 46. Available at TSA website.
• "Viewpoint: What About the Future?" Quest 98.1 (Winter 2010), 36. Available at TSA website.
• "Viewpoint: The Zen of Water Skiing" Quest 91.4 (July-August, 2003), 122. Available at TSA website.

Personal life

Mrs. Bland and her husband retired to North Carolina in 2011. They have a son, a daughter, and two grandchildren. Betty has started a study center and David continues to be active in social justice issues.