Buddy.
Confidant.
Cat herder.
Betsy Ebeling, 73, who was known as Hillary Rodham Clinton’s best friend and first childhood school chum, died Sunday in Arlington Heights after a long battle with breast cancer.
Ebeling and Clinton had a long history together dating back to when they were sixth-graders at Eugene Field School in Park Ridge.
“It’s so sudden because Betsy was always busy gathering Hillary and all of us who had been close — especially her Park Ridge school buddies, which she jokingly likened to herding cats,” said Kathy Burgess, a close friend.
Ebeling was working on getting everyone together for a “slumber party” in Indiana Aug. 9- 11, Burgess said.
“It’s unbelievable. A slumber party which now could turn into a memorial,” said Burgess. “Betsy had been having treatments, but nothing slowed her down. But something hit her a few weeks ago.
“Betsy was always there for all of us, encouraging us, and was with Hillary at her brother Tony’s funeral last month,” said Burgess.
As recently as May, Hillary sat next to Ebeling at a private fundraiser for The Heartland Alliance to aid victims of torture. It was there Ebeling took off her wig “which some of us interpreted as Betsy’s way of honoring those enduring suffering,” said Brian McPartlin, a close friend and former White House advance man during the Clinton administration — and during Hillary’s presidential run.
Sauce:
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/7/29/8938015/betsy-ebeling-hillary-clintons-best-friend-park-ridge