Few people know the name Bette Nesmith Graham (born as Better Claire McMurray), but they have probably used something she created. She was born in 1924 in Dallas, Texas. She married Warren Nesmith before World War II, but they divorced in 1946. Since she was then a single parent, she had to support herself, so she took a job at a bank. She rose to the job of executive secretary, which was as high a position as a woman could make in those days.
She used a typewriter everyday, and when a mistake was made, it was very difficult to fix. There were ink erasers, but one has to basically etch away the top layer of paper without breaking a hole in it. Bette began taking tempera water-based paint and a watercolor brush to work everyday and used that to correct her mistakes. Over the next few years, she used this to fix any mistakes that were made. She used her son's chemistry teacher sometimes to make improvements to the paint compound. She was told not to use the mixture on her work, but soon coworkers began wanting to use her mixture.
In 1956, she began selling her compound. She called it "Mistake Out". The name of the compound was changed to "Liquid Paper" a few years later when started her own company. She married in 1962 to Robert Graham, who helped her run the company. She evenrually sold Liquid Paper in 1979 to the Gillette for $47.5 million. Her company at that time had about 200 employees. She died the following year (1980) at the age of 56, but she left the legacy of the all-famous and ever-used "white out".
Possibly the most interesting note with the life of Bette (other than her literal rags-to-riches tale) was who her son is: Michael Nesmith of the Monkees.
Bet you didn't know that!
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