Welcome

The name "Rea of Hope" comes from an AA member Betsy Rea who is now deceased. Betsy Fletcher Rea was born in Dunbar, WV in 1930 and at the age of 8 was stricken with polio. The years that followed would involve times of sacrifice and courage for the entire family. She would endure numerous surgeries; hospital stays and separation from her loved ones and would never be mobile again without the aide of crutches, braces or a wheelchair. This was the beginning of what would shape her life and character.

Betsy graduated from high school, earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida and returned home to Charleston, WV. She taught elementary school and started Valley Kindergarten in Teays Valley. Betsy would marry, divorce, raise three daughters and eventually enjoy six grandchildren and one great-grandson.

Betsy encountered numerous situations that shaped her unique life, never relinquishing the strong determination that served her so well through both the disease of polio and then later the disease of alcoholism. She would find recovery from alcoholism in the spring of 1981. Her eighteen years of recovery can best be described as a place everyone wanted to be.

Whether it was an AA meeting, or in her home, the coffee pot was on and people surrounded her chair to fill the place of home and belonging. Her life ended on February 13, 1999.Carrying on in Betsy's memory, several people volunteer their time, energy, and resources to make a difference in the lives of other women recovering from the disease of alcoholism/addiction in West Virginia.