Confronting the Pitchford Curse

Fortunes come and fortunes go. "Not if I can help it!" Beverly P. Miller swore.

I worked tirelessly with the love of my life, Jack, to become a successful woman in business and built my fortune in real estate land development in spite of women's business oppression in the '60s and '70s.

I wasn't leaving my fortune to chance or to the greed of my father's family. Greed overtook them and killed their drive to be successful or maintain the fortune they had. I would not let them pull me down into their mire! My business acumen learned through successes in West Palm Beach and Washington, DC allowed me to be the force that confronted every roadblock and rebuild the Pitchford name and status in Jensen Beach, Florida.

Jack and I had experienced years of adventure, building our family fortune and loving each other and our girls. Retirement was not the time to lose everything. I honored my father and his wishes for me, but not at the expense of my family. His belief in me and time training me on how business works made me the woman I am. But he did not honor his own beliefs in his life. His indiscretions made me ashamed of him and caused me to lose respect for him for years. His death forced me to face the fact that no one is perfect, not even him, and forgive him for all those times I didn't understand his choices.