Gretchen and I had lunch upstairs in Calhoun Square and came down well before the starting time to find a crowd starting to gather. In that crowd were some new friends I had not met yet. Lots of them! As the time drew near, the crowd swelled. Everyone was happy and excited, and everyone was so thrilled to be able to celebrate the life of the wonderful woman who gave us such an incredible gift. I heard story after story that day of how much those books meant to those people. Hundreds of people lined up to get Louise's autograph. I talked to at least two women who asked me who she was—that beautiful lady sitting at the table signing away—and then burst into tears when they found out. Lani Jordan's young daughter asked me if Hubert Humphrey was there, a most excellent question.

We ran out of cake. We ran out of membership forms and had to go to Kinko's across the street and photocopy more. Borders ran out of books and were overwhelmed with the success of the event. People stayed on long after the official closing time, to talk to each other and talk about Betsy Ray and how much she meant to them. We were up and running. A lot of those people came to the BTS convention a couple of months later. My phone had been going berserk. That was the time I got voicemail. I talked to people from all over the country.