Supporter of addiction & her mother Betty Ford’s legacy…

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Although Dedee’s recovery journey did not start with the Hazelden Betty Ford Clinic, she was honored and so unbelievably flattered to have been asked to be their keynote speaker at their 40th anniversary!!! Dedee likes to say, “See? This is what I’m talking about! This is what recovery looks like!” It was there she and Susan became what Dedee describes as “Instant, brand new, very fun, and silly friends who share a lot of laughs and pickle ball LOL! Someone needs to warn her I got my own racket so game on gurl!!!

Susan Elizabeth Ford Bales is an American author, photojournalist, and former chair of the board of the Betty Ford Center for alcohol and drug abuse. She is the daughter of Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States and his wife Betty Ford née Bloomer.

Bales trained as a photographer and worked as a photojournalist for the Associated Press, Newsweek, Money Magazine, Ladies Home Journal, the Topeka Capital-Journal, the Omaha Sun and also freelanced. She was hired to shoot publicity stills for the film Jaws 2, with many appearing in Ray Loynd's book Jaws 2 Log.In 1995, she became a member of the board of the Betty Ford Center, and then became chair of the organization inn 2005. The merger of The Betty Ford Foundation and Hazelden was in 2013, now titled The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. She succeeded her mother, who remained a board member.In 2002, Bales wrote, with Laura Hayden, a novel, Double Exposure: A First Daughter Mystery, with a contemporary White House setting; in 2005, a sequel, Sharp Focus, was published.