Hillary Clinton (left) and Betsy Ebeling.Photo: Chicago For Hillary/Facebook
Betsy Ebeling, the lifelong best friend ofHillary Clinton, died Sunday in Arlington Heights, Illinois, after a lengthy battle with breast cancer,TheChicago Sun-Timesreports.
She was 72,according toTheChicago Tribune.
Ebeling’s death comes a little over one month after thedeath of Clinton’s 64-year-old brother, Tony Rodham.
“Betsy had been sick for sometime, but this was still pretty sudden,” says a source close to both women. “It’s so sad.”
“From the moment I met Betsy in sixth grade she was my dear friend,” Clinton tells PEOPLE in a statement. “We went through the ups and downs of life together, and she offered loving support and wise advice every step of the way. She had a real gift for friendship and an unrivaled ability to connect with anyone through her kindness and her sense of humor.
“I will miss her every day.”
“Betsy had been having treatments, but nothing slowed her down. But something hit her a few weeks ago,” Burgess said. “Betsy was always there for all of us, encouraging us, and was with Hillary at her brother Tony’s funeral last month.”
During a varied career that saw her work with the American Bar Association, Democratic National Convention and as a Spanish teacher, according to theTribune, Ebeling made many lasting connections.
“My mom didn’t have any acquaintances,” her son Colin told the paper. “Everyone who knew her was her friend, and they could always count on her to be welcoming, loyal, nurturing and kind. To myself and my sisters, she was the most deeply loving mother on earth.”
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker also mourned Ebelingon Twitter, praising her for dedicating her career to “advancing human rights” in the state and “fighting for a better future for people across our nation.”
“Like her many friends, I loved Betsy for her kindness, sense of humor and her genuineness,” he wrote. “I am heartbroken to lose my friend. My condolences to her family and the countless friends she leaves behind.”
Ebeling and Clinton became friends in sixth grade after meeting at Eugene Field Elementary School in Park Ridge, Illinois.
“We have been friends through all of these years. Each other’s weddings. Babies being born. Parents sick. Parents dying,” Ebeling said in a 2016 Clinton campaign video.
ShetoldFrontlinethat same year that Clinton’s house served as her “second home” growing up and she formed a close bond with Clinton’s parents, Hugh and Dorothy Rodham.
“She’s been a constant in my life, someone that I, if I really analyze it, could always depend on, because I knew who she was,” Ebeling toldFrontline. “Both she and Bill have been extremely generous with their friends on this journey that they’ve been on.”
In her essay, Ebeling recalled their childhood years riding bikes and listening to The Beatles, as well as the time they saw Martin Luther King Jr. speak in Chicago and when they attended the 1968 Democratic National Convention together.
Hillary Clinton (left) and Betsy Ebeling in 2016.
“I can’t help but take it personally when people attack my friend. If they could just meet her, they would understand what makes her so special,” she wrote.
In what she called “one of the most incredible moments” of her life, Ebeling was the one who, through tears, cast the Illinois votes for Clinton during the roll call at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, where Clinton became the first female presidential nominee of a major political party.
“I felt her parents’ presence in the room,” Ebeling wrote inTeen Vogue. “I kept imagining the two of us as sixth graders, never believing the country would nominate a woman for president, let alone one of us! I pulled myself together and said, ‘This one’s for you, Hill!’ ”
source: people.com
