Officially, the title is Business Manager, but a job description of the position would entail requirements for secretarial skills, accounting and bookkeeping prowess, bill-collecting subtleness, receptionist's poise, file clerk know-how, advertising panache and public relations expertise.

She's Betty Bredemus Motes and if you've called The Georgia Bulletin office during the last five years to place an ad, report a missing paper, ask what date Easter falls on in 1982, complain about a bill, request a copy of a news story that appeared 10 years ago, or just to say you like the publication, then you’ve dealt with Betty.

At the office of our diocesan newspaper, Betty's primary job is to handle the billing of the advertisements. But before an advertiser can be charged, the ad must be checked for accuracy in wording, size and proper placement and a tearsheet (a copy of the page on which an ad appeared) must be mailed to the customer.

From time to time, Betty also becomes an advertising salesman for the Bulletin. The most recent example was the special supplement on the work of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

With the limited budget of both the newspaper and the Society, funds had to be raised to pay for the cost of this Bulletin "extra." Betty spent countless hours on the telephone with potential advertisers, explaining the great work of the Vincentians and soliciting financial support through advertising revenue to pay for the annual insert to the weekly publication.

She easily raised more than enough to allow the organization to pay the high cost of printing the eight-page account of its numerous facets of philanthropic deeds.

But Betty's professional background is about as far removed from office work as Singapore from Smyrna, and her activities away from her desk as numerous as workday responsibilities.

One of her first loves has always been the theater. But unlike many high school girls who dream of standing ovations as the curtain falls on their performance, Betty set out to work in the entertainment field and made quite a success of it.

Following her studies at the University of Minnesota, the alma mater of her father, the late Wendell Bredemus who served as a star football player during his college days and returned to the field as coach in later life, Betty enlisted in the United States Air Force and was assigned to Special Services.

During her two-year hitch, she toured the country starring in numerous productions for the delight of those in the service of Uncle Sam.

"This was a great experience and I enjoyed every minute of it," Betty recalls. "But I probably learned the most about acting when I worked with Rance Howard."

(Perhaps that name isn't very familiar to many, but he's the actor-director father of Ron Howard of "Happy Days" fame, whom Betty remembers as a child.)

After living for a couple of years in New Orleans, where Betty continued her education at Tulane University, Atlanta became home for the Minneapolis native during the sixties.

Local audiences have seen her in past years in roles ranging from Desdemona, the heroine of Shakespeare's Othello, to Tennessee Williams' Princess Kosmonopolis, the fading Hollywood actress in Sweet Bird of Youth.

She also delighted child audiences as "Bum Bum the Clown" as star of her own kiddie's show on WAGA-TV.

But more than acting herself, Betty has worked to teach children the fundamentals of the theater, poise and diction, three categories in which she excels.

One of the most memorable events of her life took place during a course she was teaching at the theatrical workshop she co-ran for a number of years.

A promising student was Yolande King, daughter of the late Martin Luther King, Jr. Ten years ago, a telephone call to the workshop, where Yolande was in class, brought word that Dr. King had been killed.

"Everyone went into a panic," Betty recalls. "We were afraid to take Yokey, as she was called, home for fear of further attacks on the King family. When I did drive her home, I was met immediately by members of the Secret Service and ushered into the house.

"Coretta King asked that I stay and help her greet the many dignitaries arriving to pay their respect. I was the first to welcome then-Vice President Richard Nixon when he arrived at the King home," she recalls.

With a husband, three children, a full-time job, and a semi-invalid mother to care for, Betty hasn't had much time for theater in the last few years.

However, when the Smyrna Community Theater presented its first production in December 1974, Betty again returned "to the boards" to co-star in the group's premiere performance of Arsenic and Old Lace, in which she played Aunt Martha, one of the delightfully deranged sisters who poison would-be boarders and conduct funeral services for their victims in their cellar.

Shortly after this, Betty directed her own production of Jesus Christ, Superstar at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Smyrna, where she then served as Lector.

These days, all of Betty's spare time goes to work with children and the several historical groups to which she belongs.

Last year she served as President of the PTA at Fitzhugh Lee Elementary School, where middle daughter Julie was a student. The demanding job found Betty doing everything from loading newspapers for the school's paper sales to hosting an end-of-school luncheon for the entire school staff and her fellow PTA officers at her home.

This year brought the responsibility of serving as Director of the Alfred Hold Colquitt Junior Chapter Children of the Confederacy, an historical and education group for youngsters who descend from Confederate Soldiers of the War Between the States.

In this capacity, she oversees everything from cleaning the tombstones of Confederate dead at the Marietta Cemetery to gathering clothing and other items for Rabun Gap Nachoochee School, one of the group's primary recipients of charitable donations. And she's already busily at work on plans for the Christmas party she will give for approximately 65 members and guests of the Children of the Confederacy during the Yuletide season.

Her bookkeeping ability is currently being utilized by the John Howell Senior Chapter Colonial Dames 17^th Century, a patriotic lineage society in which she serves as Chapter Auditor.

The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) also found out that Betty is a "worker" and elected her to serve on the Board of the Atlanta Chapter for the next two years. She's also the chapter's "official baker" of cakes for special DAR events.

In addition, she has served as Matron of Honor of the Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans and is a frequent guest speaker for local historical and patriotic organizations.

She has been featured in the Atlanta Journal's "Today's Club Woman" series; is listed in The Hereditary Register of the United States of America, and has recently been invited to have her biography appear in the next edition of The American Catholic Who's Who.

From secretary to Father Noel Burtenshaw at the Bulletin office, to "Mommy" to Lisa, Julie and Nancy at home, this member of Sacred Heart parish -- this week's Catholic -- certainly stays on the go!