Betty F. McDermott

For Betty McDermott, the launch pad to becoming a worldwide marketing consultant and a leader in Executive Coaching and Leadership Development was a 14’ travel trailer parked on homestead land outside of Daggett on the high Mojave Desert.

Determined, intelligent, and resilient, she came from pioneer stock, born in Burke, South Dakota, the daughter of Annette Anderson Fobair and H. Ross Fobair. Her father was a renowned naturopath healer. He died when Betty was 7 and her brother, Ross, was 2. It was the Great Depression. Going from prosperity to poverty, they survived by baking bread and selling it to their neighbors. As a widow with two young kids, Annette went into politics, winning two elections as County Assessor.

In 1944, Annette bought the trailer, loaded up the kids, and set out for California. She went to work in a Kaiser plant as a “Rosie the Riveter”, then became a school teacher. Annette was an emotionally distant loner, and so Betty and Ross grew exceptionally close, counting on each other to endure a troubled mom amid the isolation of the high desert.

Betty graduated from UCSB. She met Don Giffin there and they married upon her graduation. Together, they taught at King Kamehaha School in Hawaii. Moving to Washington DC, Betty became a marketing executive for The Gas Company while Don graduated from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Don decided to further his academic career at Vanderbilt University. Their marriage unraveled and Betty moved to Los Angeles to focus on her career, working for the Western Growers Association as a writer marketing California’s agriculture.

In 1962, Betty started The Creative Kitchen, her own consulting business and also married Tom McDermott, a corporate attorney. They bought a home in Toluca Lake. At last, she had a place that she could call her own. She consulted for companies around the world, working in Norway and Japan, and eventually traveling to 47 other countries. Her kitchen became a test lab for food products and innovative appliances. She wrote a cookbook, titled “California Cooks!” to promote regional healthy cuisine.

Betty suffered a terrible loss when her brother, Ross, was shot down by a North Vietnamese missile in 1965. He was Missing-In-Action until his remains were recovered in 1997. Despite losing him, she maintained a zest for life with a love of great design, beautiful gardens, gourmet food and wine, finely crafted products, and friends, good friends. She threw legendary weekly dinner parties, hosting a mix of creative people— comedians, artists, architects, entrepreneurs, writers, politicians, and business leaders. Yet, Betty also connected with regular folks and found something remarkable in all those around her.

Her marriage to Tom McDermott ended in 1971 and her focus shifted from products to people. Working on her own personal growth, she became a leader in group therapy. That led to an opportunity in 1978 to run the Leadership Academy for the US Navy Seabees at Port Hueneme, the first woman to do so, a contract she held for 9 years.

Continuing to break glass ceilings, Betty was one of three women on the UCSB Board of Trustees during the Chancellor Huttenback era of 1977 – 1986. Later, she continued to consult privately with individual clients on issues of personal growth and executive development.

Fiercely independent and immensely proud of her home and garden– the one she never had as a child–she struggled to maintain her composure despite health issues and dementia. However, until the end, she was still offering counseling to those who wanted it and to some who didn’t. Perhaps, her ultimate goal in life was to prove that she was a better mother than her own. In that, she succeeded.

Betty is survived by her son, Bruce Giffin, his wife, Kelley, and two grandsons, Riley and Teagan. The family is grateful to Yogebeth Barrantes for the 34 years of personal assistance she provided Betty as well as Moises Villacorta for the decade of care he gave.

A celebration of her life will take place next Spring, her favorite time of year, in her garden.