Nellie Moore--later Nellie Moore Avery Banfield--always insisted it was in 1921, when she was 16 years old, that she was asked to model for Coca Cola trays and calendars as "Betty."
She consented with the provision that she not be holding a bottle or glass of Coca Cola because she "hated the stuff."
The artist, Alfred Conyers, who had first spotted the young woman as she passed his studio on Chester Ave., Cleveland, OH, agreed with her stipulation, and her image was to become one of the most popular and collectible of Coca Cola's early advertising images.
Nellie never did learn to like Coca Cola, but at the age of 72 in 1976, the twice widowed woman was still being interviewed as a former Coca Cola model.
Nellie Moore was born in West Virginia in 1904, the daughter of Robert James Moore (more commonly known as Jim) and Louisa Phillips Moore. She died in Willoughby, OH and is buried in South Kirtland Cemetery in Kirtland, Lake County, Ohio.
For many years, Bob and I have had one of her "Betty" trays hanging in our foyer.
After all, she was part of the family; having been the daughter of one of the sons of my husband Bob's great-grandfather Charles Moore.
