âHe was settled into his business and family when a serendipitous encounter changed everything,â Frey writes in the biography, going on to note how a chance encounter with a customer and Broadway producer, Morris Gest, resulted in Hales moving to New York City.
There he designed sets for a theater stage production and would go on to work for Saks Fifth Avenue, winning a contract to design layer posters to fill 31 of the storeâs display windows.
âThey were reviewed as artwork by art critics, and the public loved them,â Frey notes of the success of her grandfatherâs work for Saks and the acclaim and commissions that followed.
Betty Jane Rice, age 91, daughter of Albert Raymond Frey and Gladys Pearl (Maxvill) Frey, was born on Feb. 22, 1929, near Huggins, Mo. She died Dec. 24, 2020, at Houston House Nursing Home, Houston, Mo., after a brief illness.
Betty grew up in the Huggins area and attended Oak Grove, Number One (Ballard) and Long Valley elementary schools. After graduation, she was needed to help at home and did not go on to high school. However, she had been an incredibly good student and loved to learn, so later in life, she studied for and took the General Educational Development (GED) tests and earned a high school diploma.