Southern Boone County is home to all sorts of fine people including firefighters, EMS technicians, police officers, sheriff’s deputies, state troopers, active military personnel, decorated veterans, medical professionals, and dedicated teachers. Despite their many titles, there is but one word to accurately describe all of these selfless individuals: Hero.
For a community with a relatively small population, a significant portion of SoBoCo’s residents qualify as bona fide heroes in my estimation. It’s difficult to pinpoint one particular reason why so many real-life superheroes have chosen to call the Ashland-Hartsburg-Englewood-Claysville-Wilton area home, but it is an irrefutable fact that only the Super Friends’ Hall of Justice and the Avengers’ headquarters have higher concentrations of heroic figures.
The hero I would like to tell you about today would become very uncomfortable if you were to address her as such. She is a modest and selfless person who does whatever she can to help those in need while avoiding the spotlight and praise that her actions merit. Although she is one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I have ever known, I am quite certain she will kill me when she finds out what I wrote about her. This superhero is my wife Bethany.
Besides enduring a relationship with me for her entire adult life, Bethany has performed many other heroic deeds. After working as an occupational therapist in nursing homes, hospitals, and patients’ homes in mid-Missouri for over a decade, Bethany earned her Master’s degree in Health Administration and accepted a position as Director of Clinics for MU Healthcare. Responsible for the operation of over 20 clinics staffed by hundreds of employees, Bethany is an extremely busy person. It is common for her to put in 12-hour days at work and then spend several more hours returning emails at home each evening. (Somehow, she also manages to find the time to help our kids with their homework and keep her husband from becoming too bored and getting himself into trouble.)
It’s what she does outside of the immediate scope of her job that makes Bethany a true hero. In the early days of the pandemic, when temporary screeners were being hired to scan visitors’ temperatures and ask about Covid-19 symptoms at the entrance of every MU Healthcare facility, Bethany volunteered to spearhead the effort to provide staffing for every position. This new role took up hours of her time, which she gladly gave, with no additional financial compensation. In fact, Bethany took a voluntary pay cut for three months to ease the financial strain on her employer caused by pandemic-related losses in revenue.
Bethany has also volunteered at MU’s drive-thru Covid testing site, washed dishes and plated meals in the hospital’s understaffed kitchen, volunteered as a door-screener, and just last weekend registered patients at MU’s Covid vaccination clinic at Memorial Stadium. She has also taken steps to get re-certified in CPR just in case she is needed in patient treatment areas as the pandemic worsens.
Away from the hospital, Bethany volunteers one evening every month at the Jefferson City Salvation Army, feeding those in need. She has a portion of her paycheck taken out for the Central Missouri Food Bank and the United Way each month as well. And each Christmas, she sponsors a family in need, making sure they have presents under their tree.
There are several meanings of the word “hero”. Webster’s defines a hero as a person admired for achievements and noble qualities, one who shows great courage, a figure endowed with great strength or ability. All of these can be fairly used to describe Bethany’s contributions to the people of central Missouri.
In terms of what Bethany means to me, Webster’s also says that a hero can be defined as the central figure in an event, period, or movement and an object of extreme admiration and devotion. There has never been anyone I admire more than my wife. I am devoted to her completely. She has been the central figure in my life for over 25 years, and if my luck holds out, she will remain as such for the rest of my days.
Bethany Naughton is a hero in every sense of the word. Though she does need my help opening the occasional pickle jar, her superpowers—a desire and a capacity to selflessly help others—are unrivaled by anyone else I’ve ever met.
While many people admire their heroes from afar, I somehow managed to marry mine. A writer for a newspaper in love with a modest superhero who grew up on a Midwestern farm. Now why does that sound familiar?
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