(gentle music) - Hello, I'm Norm Silverstein, and I'm glad you could join us today because we're in good company with Betty Strasenburgh.

Betty is well known in the community for her tireless support of numerous arts and cultural organizations.

As a longtime Rochesterian, Betty has also been involved in a number of significant projects that have contributed to the life of our community.

Inspired by her role model, Eleanor Roosevelt, Betty has worked to make a contribution and tried to leave this world a little better.

She recently published a memoir, chronicling her life's journey, and we're pleased she could be with us to share some of the highlights.

Betty, thank you so much for being here today.

- Thank you for asking me.

- Betty, I know you've lived here a long time, but you're not a native Rochesterian, so tell us a little bit about your early life and what brought you here.

- I was born in New York City, and I lived there through high school and then as I was playing the harp, I applied to the Eastman School of Music and was accepted and that's what brought me here.

- [Norm] So music, was- - Music brought me here.

- The Eastman School has played a role in your life for many, many years and you've of course been very important to Eastman.

I think the project that most people associate with you is obviously the renovation of the Eastman Theater.

How did you get so involved in that?

There's a story behind that, isn't there?

- There is, Norm.

I was living in Grove Place and my neighbor was Bob Macon, the architect.

And he and I were quite friendly and we did a lot of projects together, and he had made all sorts of drawings and plans for the Eastman Theater and the whole neighborhood.

He really put the neighborhood on the map.

And he got sick and he got cancer, and he was in the hospital.

And one night I heard a knock on the door and it was Nancy Macon, his wife, and Nancy had a roll of drawings, great big roll of drawings, and she said Bob wanted me to have them.

The next morning he was dead.

(Norm hums) So I had a feeling, a mission that I had to do something and he knew I would.

- Well, with any project as big and complex as the renovation of the Eastman, there were always obstacles.

How did you manage to keep the project so close to his original vision?

- It was, oh, it took about 10 years because there were all sorts of ideas of how the culture center should be and how the performing arts center should be.

There were so many different people that had their own ideas and it was about a 10 year struggle.

But I had those drawings and I took them everywhere and showed them to everybody, and they were magnificent, really.

He was a genius.

- Well, part of the reason, a big part of the reason this project got done was because you worked so hard behind the scenes.

- I wouldn't let 'em stand still.

(laughs) We just kept plugging.

- It was, you got funding from the state by, I know your advocacy and lobbying with some of the local legislators.

- Yes.

- You convinced the president of the University of Rochester that this project had to be done.

- Joel Seligman was always enthusiastic about this project.

I saw him early on.

I had seen Mr. Jackson too, but he wasn't quite as enthusiastic, but he always was bound by money that the trustees would approve.

That was the big hangup.

So it was a long time till we could convince everybody in the powers that be that we had to do all of it at once.

They wanted to, some people wanted to divide it up into three sections, and I knew that that would never get done if they didn't do it all at once.

- So how do you feel when you look out your window and you see that wonderful theater right across the street?

- Oh, it's wonderful, 'cause so many years I'd seen the cutoff where George Eastman changed the theater around because he couldn't buy the apartment house that was on the corner there.

This lady tried to hold him up for too much money and he said, "To hell with you, I'll build it around you."

So that's how the theater got that funny shape.

And I knew that that parking lot could be very well used by the new addition and the things that we needed.

The RPO and the school needed those additions.

They needed a space for rehearsing, because before RPO would rehearse on the stage of the Eastman Theater, and of course the school owned the theater and they got first choice.

So the RPO was sort of kicked around, and this school needed it too.

We also needed a recital hall.

Kilburn was overflowing and with recitals.

There was a lot that needed to be done.

- And now you have all those things and more, what did you call it?

You helped fulfill Bob's vision, but George Eastman's dream.

- Yeah, it was George Eastman's dream because he had planned to use that parking lot for his theater in the first place.

- Well, that's something that I think is obviously gonna be a legacy, that beautiful building.

Do people still stop you when they see the Chihuly sculpture that's in the lobby?

- [Betty] Well, I occasionally see or hear them talking about it and people, as they walk in the door immediately put their eyes up and look at it.

- You know, I wanna ask you a little bit about your association with the Gateways Music Festival.

- Oh yes, Norm, that is one of my major interests.

Gateways is made up of classical musicians of color.

And Armenta Hummings started that.

Armenta Hummings is a graduate of the Julliard School.

She plays fantastic piano.

She's one of the, she's a Steinway pianist, and she was in their book for the hundred great people who'd come outta Juilliard.

Bob Freeman brought her to Rochester.

And she went around the neighborhood and she, teaching kids and people, and she started the Gateways Music Festival and it was small at first and every two years we have a festival and it has grown so much.

They have 200 musicians from orchestras all over the world.

Most orchestras don't have people of color.

We have in Rochester, Herb Smith, one person plays trumpet in the orchestra and that's not uncommon.

So this is to promote people of color in orchestras playing classical music.

- And we're involved too, with our classical station, with the festival.

- Oh, oh yes, it's gonna be, this year they had 400 applicants to play in the final concert, and they had to turn some marvelous people down.

And Michael Morgan is the conductor, he conducts in Oakland, California.

And he's been the conductor right along.

Oh, and look forward to August when it comes.

It's gonna be wonderful, last year it was sensational.

They played Ravel's "La valse" at the end, and everybody went wild, including Joel Seligman.

- Well, I think people appreciate all you've done for the arts and culture, but not everyone knows about your history, as maybe someone who really helped push women's rights and getting women their full recognition on places like corporate boards.

In fact, some might say you were a little ahead of your time on that.

You were, in the '70s, a financial analyst.

- Well, hardly that.

(laughs) I was a sales lady.

(laughs) - Well, but it was finance.

- Yeah, I went to work after I got divorced and remarried.

I thought that it would be nice to get women together to learn about managing their money, or at least to be a part of it and not just let their husbands do it all.

And so Muriel Siebert had just joined the New York Stock Exchange.

She was the first woman at the exchange and there wasn't even a ladies' room for her to use.

She was a fascinating woman.

And when I told her about my project, she said, "Sure, I'll come," and up she came.

She was very bouncy, jolly lady.

And it was very successful.

- But not everybody approved.

- The first one went along fine.

Then we had a second one, which we talked about trusts at banks.

And the second one was objected to by one man at the bank, one of the banks.

And he had us kicked out of the Valley Club, which was, we had had our invitations all drawn, and everything was all set and we had to start over again.

So we went to the art gallery, and the art gallery said, "Sure, you can have your seminar here."

And this same gentleman tried to stop us from going to the art gallery, but the art gallery stood firm and we had a beautiful seminar.

- Well you pursued that, encouraging women to apply for corporate board seats, to do their own investing, to be more independent.

- Yes, I went to an annual meeting at General Railway Signal, and I looked around and saw there were no women on the board.

And I thought that was really too bad.

And so I got a group of women together, women that had served on a corporate board, or a philanthropy board, and together we each put in five names and we put the book together.

We had forms they had to fill out, with all their vital statistics and we put the book out.

Took a long time to get it together, but we finally did and we spread it around to all the leaders of corporations in this neighborhood.

And then we set about trying to get the board.

We did, I went with my friend Catherine to see Dan Gill at Bausch and Lomb.

- [Norm] That was your friend Catherine Carlson.

- That's right.

And we went up to see Dan 'cause we knew him, and told him what we were doing and sure enough he put a woman on the board.

So we were very pleased.

Some of the other tries weren't quite so successful.

- What do you think about today?

Are you surprised even after all this time, there are so few women on corporate boards?

- Yes, I am, but I am also noticing quite a few women are leading big companies.

- Mm-hmm, well, there were other things that you were involved in that I think are pretty interesting, but not necessarily on everyone's radar, which is that you were involved in community developments also.

- [Betty] That's right.

- Particularly in Corn Hill in the late '60s.

I only learned about it by reading your book about the capsule dwellings and they're still there.

- [Betty] That's right.

- Can you tell me a little bit about that?

- Okay, Cliff Carpenter wrote an ad in, not an ad, an article in the newspaper, and said that no new housing had been built in the, what is that, the third ward, in many years.

And that gave me an idea.

And my husband at that time was Bob Strasenburgh, and he went to the bank and signed his name and we got a loan and after, and our architect was Bill Burwell, who designed the chapel at the university, also sailed with us on our boat.

And Bill thought that we should, we should entertain the thought of using Stirling Homex's instant housing.

So we did that.

We made plans and we ordered them, and we had a piece of land at the corner of Troup and Clarissa we were able to use.

And the houses went up in about short order.

They were a couple of months I think.

And there were the houses, it was absolutely amazing.

And they were very nice houses, bricked on the outside.

And to this day they still look very good, and are used all the time.

- You had a little bit of pushback there at the time, didn't you?

- We did because there were people in the Black community who thought we were just white do-gooders trying to make money.

Truth of the matter is, we lost money.

We never did make any money.

We just borrowed the money, put the houses up and paid back the loan.

And I'm so pleased that they look so well now.

Troup and Clarissa, you can see them, anybody who drives by.

- What a lot of people don't know is your father passed away when you were just an infant.

But you were very fortunate that you established a loving relationship with your stepfather Arthur, who was an executive of Lionel Trains.

So tell us a little bit about the connection that still exists today between Lionel Trains, and the Edgerton Community Center.

- Well, when I was living in Rochester, Captain Jensen from the Police Athletic League called Lionel and got my father on the phone, and he wanted to get some trains for the inner city kids.

And my father said, "Hmm, my daughter's in Rochester, wouldn't be a bad idea if I hooked her up with the police."

(Norm laughs) So he said, "Sure, I will."

And he gave them $25,000 worth of Lionel trains, which they installed in Edgerton Park.

And they just had their 65th anniversary of opening of the train exhibit.

And they have a committee, a group of people that work on them all the time.

It's a very active group.

And we enjoyed the having the meeting, the mayor came.

- [Norm] So you refurbished the trains, didn't you?

- [Betty] Not the trains, but mostly the sets.

- The set.

You learned a lot doing the genealogy of your family.

And I know that- - [Betty] Oh, yes.

- That you found some fascinating things.

- [Betty] Yes.

- [Norm] And you had a cousin who survived the Titanic.

- That's right, my mother's first cousin was on the Titanic when it went down.

She and her husband were returning from England and the big bang came and they put their coats on, and went upstairs and her husband kissed her goodbye and said, "Get in that rowboat, don't worry about me.

This boat can't sink."

And in that rowboat was the unsinkable Molly Brown, which was a big coincidence, too.

- So what was your biggest surprise?

Was it the connection to the Titanic, or were there other things that you felt like, "Hmm."

- Well, one of my grandparents or grand uncles was down there and with sugar cane, in the sugar cane business.

And he bought land down there, and the land proved to be with oil in it underneath.

And to this day, family members are getting checks from that piece of land.

- Wow, so that is interesting to find that kind of history out.

You know, how about more recently?

What's been getting your attention or kind of capturing your imagination?

- Most of my work was with the Eastman School.

I was on the Board of Managers and that was my major love, really, music.

- Oh, there are many other things that people associate your family with too.

The Strasenburgh Planetarium.

I'm sure people probably still come up and say thank you, but that was actually your husband's family.

- That's right, I had absolutely nothing to do with the planetarium, but I get minor credits for it.

I am now working with Kate Bennett though, because I'm very interested in the Museum and Science Center and they have great plans, and science is such an important thing now to the world.

So she's doing a wonderful job.

- You know, what are your hopes about the future for this community, particularly in arts and culture?

You know, we are told so often that it's one of the things that makes Rochester unique.

It's one of the things that we should be the most proud of.

But the community has struggled a bit over the past two decades.

Are you seeing a turnaround with some of the new developments?

- Oh, I think the new developments are fantastic.

The new art center is proposed.

I don't know how we're gonna fill a 3,000 seat theater, but it's exciting.

The plans are exciting and all the new buildings and so many people are moving downtown.

I live downtown and I just love it.

I wouldn't wanna live any other place.

And to see so many more people coming downtown, it's very exciting.

- When did you move downtown?

- Oh, just after my husband died, which is about 20 years ago.

I didn't wanna live out in the suburbs anymore.

And I knew I wanted to live in Grove Place, which was in the Culture District.

So I worked with Bob Macon, he designed my townhouse, he designed two of them, actually the first one I sold, and the second one I'm in.

And I plan to stay there.

And we have wonderful neighbors.

We meet once a month, and talk over neighborhood problems, city problems.

- So you were a bit of a pioneer when you first moved back downtown?

- [Betty] Yes.

- There weren't that many people coming downtown, I mean, that's all a pretty recent phenomenon.

- It's 20 years or so or more.

But there were a few pioneers.

Ann McQuay had the row houses on Gibb Street, and Ed Safer was a developer in those days.

And then along came Bob Macon and designed a lot of townhouses.

He really put a great effort and talent into Grove Place.

We miss him.

- You know, in reading your book, I found out that you were a, I guess you still are a pilot.

- [Betty] Oh no, not a pilot anymore.

(laughs) - You've given up?

- I've given up.

- But you had some experiences.

- I did, while I was having a lesson one day they pulled the throttle and said, "Okay, land the plane."

And I landed it in a tree.

The plane was a total, but the pilot and I got out, put my hat and coat on and we weren't hurt at all.

It was a miracle that nothing happened to us.

- You've had a few adventures.

- Few adventures, yes.

We were taking the boat, one of the boats down south, in the Hudson River.

There was an explosion in the plane while I was cooking dinner.

My husband was filling the gas tank and unbeknown to him, there was a leak in the gas tank.

So all the gas was going in the bilge.

And there I was with a hot oven on 'cause my son was coming and I wanted to have a roast beef for him.

And poof!

The boat exploded.

He pushed me into, I ran outside, my son pushed me into the Hudson River, and from there to the hospital.

And then from there they flew me to the strong burn unit.

That was a very painful experience, burns are bad.

- [Norm] Hmm, they are.

- Yeah.

- That being pushed into the river saved your life.

- That's right, I think so.

- We've talked about a lot of things.

Your interest in arts and culture, what you've done to promote community development, how you were an early advocate for women in corporate boards and in corporate boardrooms.

And also taking responsibility for their own investments and making sure that women had opportunities there too.

What's your next challenge?

- Well, my challenge had been three years, writing my memoirs.

(both laughing) And so now I'm recovering from that and starting to get rid of all this memorabilia that I have in my house.

- Are you seeing a new generation of women who are now coming up and taking the role that you and some of the other philanthropists and advocates for women?

- Yes, I think there are a lot of women doing it now.

I don't, I've lost touch with Women's Network, but there, I think there's a lot of progress being made.

- What are your thoughts though, on your legacy in the community?

What's meant the most to you personally?

- Well, coming here and telling you all about it, (laughs) because it's been sort of quiet that I've done all these things.

- Well, I wish everybody could read your book because it really is wonderful.

The pictures and the story of your life.

You know, it's one of those, when it's one of those books when you read a biography and you think, "How could she have accomplished so much?"

I mean, you must feel good knowing that that book does document the difference you've made it.

- It does, and I did it for my children.

That was the reason I did it because I'm the last of the line.

I was an only child and I wanted them to, it also has a lot of my family and genealogy and I wanted to pass it on to the children.

And that was the basic, but I had to print quite a few of them, 'cause the more you print, the less the price goes down.

So Norm, if anybody wants a book, I'm glad to give it to them.

They should let you know and I will get you a book for them.

- Well, we appreciate that, and we appreciate the fact you've also supported WXXI.

We didn't talk about that.

- No, do we have time?

What I like most about Rochester is WXXI, I couldn't live without it.

- Well, thank you and we appreciate your support and we also appreciate your leadership in the arts and culture because it's not just us, it's so many different organizations and so many things that you've touched over the years.

And you know, we're glad, we're glad to help tell your story too.

- Thank you.

- Thank you for watching.

You can also watch this episode and previous shows online, at WXXI.org and we'll see you next time on "Norm & Company."

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music)