Meet The Bedford "Litter Lady"

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BEDFORD (CBS11) - While the morning sun is still yawning, Mrs. Emily Elizabeth Becka is readying for work. Never mind that she's been retired for years… the 80-years-young Bedford Senior has a new mission: she's become the "Litter Lady."

"Oh, my goodness, I'm so thankful that I can walk and do this!" she exclaims with a soft, ladylike laugh.

Two to three days a week now (in the spring it was daily), Mrs. Becka dons her gloves, grabs her plastic bags and long handled grabber—and hits Bedford's four mile walking trail, picking up trash.

"I didn't want the children to think that it is normal," she says of the cigarette butts, discarded paper and other debris she cleans off of the trail, "it is not normal. I just decided why not? Just why not???"

Mrs. Becka says she was a frequent user of the walking and biking trail at one point and then became inspired after a visit to the George Bush Presidential Library.

"I remembered that George Bush cleared trails… and I thought: if he could clear trails, I could clean trails… and I started to do this." She says she began her effort as a promise during Lent and then continued. "I love it. I am so well paid. Everybody appreciates it."

Bedford city leaders have been so impressed that her August birthday was declared 'Emily Becka Day.' And her birthday cash? She donated it to the city to help install doggie waste stations along the trail.

"Oh, I'm so pleased with that! It's helped me with my job."

At 80, her steps are swift, her eyes keen, and her heart: it beats with the steady rhythm of gratitude and grace.

"It's really a gift to be able to do this. I know so many people—cousins and relatives—who are not able to do this. And I keep thinking that even the people that walk their animals, they have to rush to get to work. I have the time, I can pick up with they don't have the time."

As she walks, she enjoys the wildflowers and the birds… and the strangers who have now become friends through their casual chats on the trail.

"The people are so kind and generous," says Becka, "They share their animals… I'm well paid, definitely well paid."

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