This portrait represents a wonderful story of old friends and the magic of the internet. In early 2011 we received an email through this website from a woman named Betsy. She introduced herself as a friend of my parents from their time in San Miguel de Allende. Betsy’s father Bill was my Dad’s dear friend, and Betsy lived with her father for several months in 1968 and visited many times thereafter. They all became close, and Betsy posed for several paintings.
Betsy had googled “Robert Long” and discovered our website. We were both delighted to have found each other, even though we don’t think we’ve ever met. My visits to San Miguel were short and always filled with whirlwind activity and many of my parents’ friends. I imagine I met Bill more than once, but it was so long ago. At any rate, Betsy and I exchanged many memories about that time and have found a new friend in each other. I sent her several photos of paintings that I had found rolled up—buried treasure in the closet—among them this portrait that she identified as herself.
