By Scottie Brown

The Selma Times-Journal

Betty Tucker, author of ‘Don’t Worry About the Mule Going Blind,’ used her memoir to show how she overcame adversity.

“I could always write,” Tucker said. “After I had those kids, it took so much out of me keeping that secret all these years. I wanted to be able to share the wisdom that if you believe in yourself and you believe in the Lord, you are halfway there to accomplishing whatever you want to.”

Tucker said her book, which was released in 2013, had been doing well. In the month of May, she had been able to sell well over 200 books. Tucker said the focus of her book was that people should not let their circumstances dictate where they would end.

“Regardless of your circumstances, they aren’t permanent,” Tucker said. “You can make your life better. Life doesn’t have to be hard. God engineered us for greatness. All we have to do is believe it.”

Tucker, who is originally from Troy, said that when she was 9-years-old her life changed.

Her family, which had been doing well up until that point, was left with nothing when the mill her father worked at burnt down.

“Since my dad was the only bread winner of a family of nine, we had been supplementing our income,” Tucker said. “My dad and mom found a contractor that was going through town who was looking for a family with a lot of kids.”

The contractor gave her family the opportunity to become migrant workers who would travel from Belle Grande, Fla. to Utica, N.Y. following the seasons.

After putting twins up for adoption, Tucker turned her life around in 1968 when she moved to California, where she got a behavioral science degree from the University of San Francisco.

“I worked for over 20 years as a teacher for the San Francisco Unified School District,” Tucker said. “During the same time I worked over 19 years at the United States Postal Service.”

After spending time in California, and finding the twins she had put up for adoption in 2009, Tucker said she was moved to share her story with people. For Tucker, she said, the biggest thing was to keep moving forward.

“Never give up your dreams and your goals,” Tucker said. “You don’t know how close you are to where you are to fulfilling them.”