HANDICAPPED ARTIST PAINTS ROSY PICTURE OF HER LIFE

Betty Williams draws every day and has drawn so many pictures over so many years that she couldn't even fathom a guess as to how many she's done.

Williams loves to draw outdoor scenes to be displayed in the community room of her apartment complex.

She also draws poster calendars that highlight her friends' birthdays.

Williams spends much of her time with her friends, laughing and playing cards.

From her wheelchair, Betty Williams says she may look limited, but she isn't.

"I don't feel handicapped at all," said Williams, smiling.

Despite the fact that she functions from a wheelchair and no longer has her left arm, Williams lives each day to the fullest.

And she's right. No one who knows her sees her as handicapped.

Alene Schneier has lived in the same apartment complex as Williams for 16 years and only has the nicest things to say about her.

"I've never really met anyone like her," Schneier said. "She never gets down with any of her handicaps. She's wonderful. She never gets mad about anything."

Born in Iowa 71 years ago, Betty Williams has certainly lived an interesting life. She joined the Navy in the midst of World War II and did her part by creating maps in Washington D.C. She casually calls this an "interesting experience."

But if anyone had the right to be bitter, Williams does.

In 1971, life dealt Williams a dirty hand. In the early part of the year, she learned she had multiple sclerosis, a disease that affects the control people have over their bodies. Unfortunately, MS soon stole control of her legs and Williams was forced to face life from the confines of a wheelchair.

That alone would spell tragedy. But later that same year, Williams was dealt another blow -- her arm was amputated due to severe pain that was causing her to slowly lose feeling and function.

"I didn't think I could carry on with a useless arm," Williams said. "It just wasn't working."

Williams says she doesn't miss her arm, however. She said it has been gone so long she doesn't remember what it was like to have one.

And she says there's simply no reason to be bitter.

"You know that's how it is and there's nothing you can do to change it so you just live with it."

Besides, Williams doesn't have time to be a victim, she's an artist.

She spends several hours every day drawing with colored pencils, something she has done long before 1971.

"I've been doing it since I was a kid," Williams said. She remembers painting an Indian when she was 7 or 8. "I like it. You take a blank piece of paper and before you know it, it says something.

"I do it probably for the same reason people croquet or make quilts."

Her handicap doesn't affect her painting and she says this should not be surprising.

"Nobody ever draws with two hands," she said.

She paints, too, but prefers using her colored pencils to paint her outdoor locales full of happy people and pretty scenery.

"I like the outdoors," Williams says. "When the weather's nice I just live out there."

She does it because it's fun, she also draws calendars, posters and dioramas and she has no particular favorite piece of art, adding that she "kind of likes them all."

She calls the whole process of creating a challenge.

"You have to get an idea in your head and think about it before you know if you have a picture."

She spends the time she's not painting reading a good book, listening to a piece of classical music or talking to her cockateel, Jack, whom she calls a "member of the family."

She also loves to travel. She's been to Canada, Thailand, and many other places in Europe. In May she's going to Boston.

She flies to these places and says her handicap shouldn't stop her from doing what she loves to do. She enjoys visiting historical sites and museums.

"If I had the money, I'd travel all the time."

While she does enjoy art, classical music and some of the finer things, she doesn't consider herself a serious person.

"I've been known to harass people around here, making them get up from in front of their television sets."

All in all, Williams says life is good.

"I'm even kind of glad all of this happened. I learned a lot. Maybe I'm even a better person."

Info quote: In 1971, life dealt Betty Williams a dirty hand. In the early part of the year, she learned she had MS. Later that year she had to have her arm amputated.