Brock's Uncle Ott, Aunt Violet, and his five young cousins lived just a couple of blocks away from Betty's apartment, so she visited them frequently. During one visit to them, it was "defrosting day" for their newfangled refrigerator, and Betty joked how nice it would be to climb inside it and cool off. The young cousins thought so too, and egged her on to do it. Finally, she gave in and found a comfortably cool perch inside. A photo was snapped, and the event ultimately achieved legendary status in Brockmeier folklore.

Incidentally, Ralph Speth, one of Brock's cousins, was eventually to travel to the Korean Conflict on the same troopship that returned Brock home from Europe in WWII.