MaVynee Betsch, christened Marvyne Elisabeth Betsch (January 13, 1935 – September 5, 2005), was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

environmentalist and an activist. She was better known as The Beach Lady, because she spent the better part of her adult life educating the public on the black history and environmental importance of

American Beach American Beach is a historic beach community in northeastern Florida once popular with African-American vacationers. It is located north of Jacksonville on Amelia Island in Nassau County. During the time of segregation and the Jim Crow era, Afri ...

. Born in

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

in 1935, Betsch lived at

Amelia Island Amelia Island is a part of the Sea Islands chain that stretches along the East Coast of the United States from South Carolina to Florida; it is the southernmost of the Sea Islands, and the northernmost of the barrier islands on Florida's Atlanti ...

, Florida, the African-American Hyannis port, where the crème de la crème of black society came to relax in the Jim Crow South. MaVynee’s millionaire grandfather, Abraham Lincoln Lewis, founded the beach, and she was raised in luxury as a member of the

African-American upper class The African-American upper class is a social class that consists of African-American individuals who have high disposable incomes and high net worth. The group may include highly paid white-collar professionals such as academics, engineers, la ...

. Her wealth and privilege vanished after she later gave away her entire fortune to environmental causes. Afterwards, she slept on American Beach in a

chaise longue A chaise longue (; , "long chair") is an upholstered sofa in the shape of a chair that is long enough to support the legs of the sitter. In modern French the term ''chaise longue'' can refer to any long reclining chair such as a deckchair. ...

for the rest of her life.

Life

Betsch was born into one of the preeminent black families in the South."MaVynne 'Beach Lady' Betsch"
''The History Makers''. Interview September 20, 2004. Her parents were Mary and John Betsch, and her grandparents were Abraham Lincoln Lewis, who founded Florida's second oldest African-American beach (Manhattan Beach to the south was the first), and Mary Kingsley Sammis, the great granddaughter of

Zephaniah Kingsley Zephaniah Kingsley Jr. (December 4, 1765 – September 14, 1843) was a Quaker, born in England, who moved as a child with his family to South Carolina, and became a planter, slave trader, and merchant. He built four plantations in the Spanish co ...

and

Anna Kingsley Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley, born Anta Madjiguène Ndiaye (18 June 1793 – April or May 1870), also known as Anta Majigeen Njaay or Anna Madgigine Jai, was a West African from present-day Senegal, who was enslaved and sold in Cuba, probably via t ...

. Betsch was educated at the

Oberlin Conservatory of Music The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a private music conservatory in Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1865 and is the second oldest conservatory and oldest continually operating conservatory in the United States. It is one of ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, and after earning her bachelor's degree in 1955, moved to Europe, where she was an opera singer for ten years. Betsch made her opera debut in Braunschweig in 1959. When Betsch returned to Florida, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, which forced her to re-evaluate her life. Since 1975, Betsch dedicated herself to the preservation and protection of American Beach from development and destruction. Betsch died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

on September 5, 2005. She was posthumously honored as an Unsung Hero of Compassion by the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...

on November 12, 2005. Betsch is survived by her sister

Johnnetta B. Cole Johnnetta Betsch Cole (born October 19, 1936) is an Americans, American anthropologist, educator, museum director, and college president. Cole was the first female African-American president of Spelman College, a historically black college, servin ...

, an anthropologist, and her brother,

John Betsch John Betsch (born October 8, 1945) is an American jazz drummer. Biography Betsch was born in Jacksonville, Florida. His family belonged to the African-American upper class; his grandfather was the black millionaire Abraham Lincoln Lewis and his ...

, a jazz musician. Betsch and American Beach have inspired two women to create documentaries on the subject: ''An American Beach'', which focuses on the history of American Beach, with conversations with The Beach Lady, and ''The Beach Lady'', a feature-length documentary.

References

External links

History Makers Profile

Sierra Club profile
* Kieran Taylor

Interview R-0301. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007). {{DEFAULTSORT:Betsch, Mavynee People from Jacksonville, Florida History of Jacksonville, Florida 1935 births 2005 deaths American environmentalists Activists from Florida 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 21st-century American women Kingsley-Ndiaye family 21st-century African-American women African-American environmentalists