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What's Cookin'?
Betty has bee n learning all her life
By REBECCA WELLS
People who talk about having to
walk uphill to school have nothing
on Betty Wolf. She had to brave
all kinds of weather by rowing a
boat from her home near Walker
Park over to the Agate area and
then walking a mile or so uphill to
Pioneer School, then a one-room
schoolhouse, where she was the
teacher.
"That's what everybody did
then. That's how you got to places
was in a boat," Betty remembers,
matter-of-factly. She didn't own a
car in those days, which was back
in 1936, when boats were the pre-
ferred way of getting from here to
there. "That's what people did."
Betty grew up as the daugh-
ter of a teacher, living just down
the street from Southside School,
where she also taught and was a
school board member. Her own
grandfather helped build the
school in 1903.
On misty mornings during Bet-
ty's early days as a teacher, her
mother served as her "fog horn" by
standing on the porch and yelling
across the bay to help Betty keep
her bearings. It was all worth the
effort.
"I WAS SO lucky all my life to
do something I loved, so lucky to
be able to do something I really
cared about," she says. "I like kids.
I like to see them learn. I like to
see that 'A_h-ha!' moment come to
them. Besides, they aren't the only
ones who learn, you know."
She spent three years teaching
at Pioneer before transferring to
teach third grade at the old Lin-
coln Elementary School, located
where the Shelton Civic Center
now stands. Betty married her
husband, Frank Wolf, in 1940 and
they started a family, tter hus-
band, like her father, was a tug-
boat captain. He also drove school
bus, towed logs for Simpson and
ITT Rayonier and served on the
Southside School Board for many
years. They were part of a commu-
laity effort to construct new build-
ings for Southside School.
They had two daughters, Karen
Bergh and Sally Agee, who each
later had a son and a daughter
and these days Betty also has a
great-grandson. They built their
home on Hammersley Inlet and
lived the rustic lifestyle typical
of the era: without a telephone or
indoor plumbing, generating their
own electricity and hand-digging
their wells until more modern con-
veniences arrived.
Frank Wolf died in 1960 and
Betty had to provide for their two
teenage daughters. Before she
had focused on being a wife and
mother while occasionally doing
some substitute teaching at vari-
ous schools in the community but
after his passing she no longer had
that luxury.
"OF COURSE, back in those
days when you got married you
know you didn't teach any more
because mostly when people got
married women were not working
outside the home," she explains.
'That was even true in later
years."
This had held true in the case
of her mother, who began teaching
at Southside in 1914, married her
father in 1916 and went on to raise
four children, including Betty, who
was born in 1917.
However, once Betty became
a widow, she began teaching at
RETIRED TEACHER, PRINCIPAL and superintendent of
Southside School, the same school she attended and her
mother taught at, Betty Wolf is a lifelong Mason County
resident.
Southside, spending most of her
time in first-grade classrooms.
However, times had changed since
she first began her career in edu-
cation.
After she graduated from Irene
S. Reed High School at age 15, she
attended the Normal School of
Bellingham, now Western Wash-
ington University, for two years
and then had a third year of high-
er education at the University of
Washington. Her mother had also
studied education at Bellingham,
and in her day teachers only need-
ed three years of college.
SINCE BY THE time Betty
returned to teaching she needed
a four-year degree she returned
to college. She later earned a
mastex' d in education from
Pacific Liithera4a . University as
she prepared to move up to an ad-
ministrative position. Betty rose
to become principal ,.at Southside
in 1974, later climbing to the rank
of superintendent. During most
this time she continued to teach,
now working with students in the
fourth grade. Betty retired in the
late Eighties.
"Let's just say I learned a lot.
It became more political than it
had been earlier. Lots of papers to
do. Lots of papers to fill out, sign,"
she recalls of her days working as
principal and superintendent. She
was really grateful to have very
competent office staff to help her
Mell Chevrolet
where the satisfied
customers buy ...
Were we helpful, courteous and friendly'? YeS
Were you pleased with the way your vehicle was delivered? YeS'
Would you recommend us to friends? ec//it/te/Y
We would appreciate your comments: te woeldn't 1__
en?where else
Kevln
own country, and I think it's good
for kids to see that when they're
growing up," she considers. "If we
didn't associate with them, we
didn't have anyone to play with."
Retirement didn't keep Betty
out of the school scene, though.
She has been active in Friends of
Olympic College and in the early
Nineties she was influential in ar-
ranging for a counselor from the
Bremerton campus to help guide
students at the Shelton branch
transfer to a four-year college. She
has also been a volunteer tutor.
The Mason General Hospital
Foundation recently named Betty
as an outstanding business wom-
an in the community. She hasn't
stopped learning, either, having
just finishing up her doctorate de-
gree in family and consumer sci-
ence through Iowa State Univer-
sity.
"I THOUGHT I'D never learn
any younger," she jokes, a smile
twinkling through her eyes. So
far, Betty has completed all of the
necessary research and has taken
classes both on-line and in person,
even staying in the dorms, along
with her daughter Karen, who ini-
tially invited her to join her in pur-
suing a PhD.
Carrying on her family's lega-
cy, both of her daughters became
teachers, as did one of her grand-
daughters. One of the reasons she
chose to further study home eco-
nomics is the fact that the subject
reaches far beyond simply cooking
and sewing.
"They teach personal relation-
ships, consumer science, money
management. They do all these
things that are part of life," she
explains. "Some people looked on
it as not being intellectual enough,
and here they are
that we use practically
of our lives!"
She should know since
a tbrmer 4-H club leader,
maintained that position for
30 years. Before becoming a 1
er, she participated in 4-tt
little girl, doing cooking and!
ing projects.
"THEY DIDN'T have
projects that they have
she says, calling the wide
topics 4-H offers youngsters
days "wonderful!" When she
young, a 4-H agent would
local clubs, teaching
skills and techniques. "For
women who didn't have
education, that was a
thing," she remembers. The
ington State University
County Extension office
vides plenty of resources
ticipants to apply to their
day life.
(Please turn to
N.$. - Iloods#ort
t0% OFF ALL PARTS AND SERVICE
Seniors age 55 and over (Up to =100 savings)
Ron McLean
with all the .procedures and paper-
work.
This was quite a leap from her
very first job picking strawber-
ries at Stets Berry Farm just a
few miles down the road from her
childhood home, which her par-
ents, Mr. and Mrs. Hurst, built.
The house still stands to this day.
Laboring in the strawberry
fields over the summer season
earned her and her neighborhood
friends less than a dollar per crate
"but it was a lot of money for us,"
she remembers.
WHEN SHE was a little girl
and still a Southside student
about 20 or 30 children were en-
rolled in the school. "If you felt like
you wanted to leave anybody out,
there weren't enough kids to play
games," she remembers, "I often
think about that, how kids in the
country didn't know other kids."
Cultural diversity was evident
even back then. There were a
number of Scandinavian immi-
grants living hereabouts during
her childhood. "Their language
and customs were a little differ-
ent, just like people from other
cpuntries are different from our
Save
This event is free
Wednesday, May 23 • 6-8 p.m.
Shehon Timberland Library
710 W. Alder Street
Oakland Bay
BCHW
PRIZE FIIDEt]I-""
Saturday,----- "'May 26] | ,..
/.! ::,
Kennedy Creek iiili|: i i
w
at marker 369 .
Follow signs onto I!
Old Olympic HWY :J |','I re,
off Hwy 101 :|! Y
Food and Great Prizes ] | a
!: | 1
,n,o? !!1,
r;
y On The S YOU
New Owner * All New Products * New Store!
• BEST QUALITY for Your Money/* Better Selection
330 W. Railroad Ave • (360) 432-3083
Downtown Shelton at Evergreen Plaza
Monday - Saturday 9 am - 8 pro, Sunday 10 am - 6 pm !
www.trlib.org
704-1NFO
Timberland
Regional
Professional actors from Seattle's
Theatre bring to life the story of MyAntonia by
Willa Cather through dramatic readings.
The Big Read is an_initiat" tix
of the National EndOWa¢°
for the Arts in parm ershit
e • IIIS¢IIII
with the Institute otW
and Library Services d
Arts Midwest.
Page 14 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, May 17, 2007
What's Cookin'?
Betty has bee n learning all her life
By REBECCA WELLS
People who talk about having to
walk uphill to school have nothing
on Betty Wolf. She had to brave
all kinds of weather by rowing a
boat from her home near Walker
Park over to the Agate area and
then walking a mile or so uphill to
Pioneer School, then a one-room
schoolhouse, where she was the
teacher.
"That's what everybody did
then. That's how you got to places
was in a boat," Betty remembers,
matter-of-factly. She didn't own a
car in those days, which was back
in 1936, when boats were the pre-
ferred way of getting from here to
there. "That's what people did."
Betty grew up as the daugh-
ter of a teacher, living just down
the street from Southside School,
where she also taught and was a
school board member. Her own
grandfather helped build the
school in 1903.
On misty mornings during Bet-
ty's early days as a teacher, her
mother served as her "fog horn" by
standing on the porch and yelling
across the bay to help Betty keep
her bearings. It was all worth the
effort.
"I WAS SO lucky all my life to
do something I loved, so lucky to
be able to do something I really
cared about," she says. "I like kids.
I like to see them learn. I like to
see that 'A_h-ha!' moment come to
them. Besides, they aren't the only
ones who learn, you know."
She spent three years teaching
at Pioneer before transferring to
teach third grade at the old Lin-
coln Elementary School, located
where the Shelton Civic Center
now stands. Betty married her
husband, Frank Wolf, in 1940 and
they started a family, tter hus-
band, like her father, was a tug-
boat captain. He also drove school
bus, towed logs for Simpson and
ITT Rayonier and served on the
Southside School Board for many
years. They were part of a commu-
laity effort to construct new build-
ings for Southside School.
They had two daughters, Karen
Bergh and Sally Agee, who each
later had a son and a daughter
and these days Betty also has a
great-grandson. They built their
home on Hammersley Inlet and
lived the rustic lifestyle typical
of the era: without a telephone or
indoor plumbing, generating their
own electricity and hand-digging
their wells until more modern con-
veniences arrived.
Frank Wolf died in 1960 and
Betty had to provide for their two
teenage daughters. Before she
had focused on being a wife and
mother while occasionally doing
some substitute teaching at vari-
ous schools in the community but
after his passing she no longer had
that luxury.
"OF COURSE, back in those
days when you got married you
know you didn't teach any more
because mostly when people got
married women were not working
outside the home," she explains.
'That was even true in later
years."
This had held true in the case
of her mother, who began teaching
at Southside in 1914, married her
father in 1916 and went on to raise
four children, including Betty, who
was born in 1917.
However, once Betty became
a widow, she began teaching at
RETIRED TEACHER, PRINCIPAL and superintendent of
Southside School, the same school she attended and her
mother taught at, Betty Wolf is a lifelong Mason County
resident.
Southside, spending most of her
time in first-grade classrooms.
However, times had changed since
she first began her career in edu-
cation.
After she graduated from Irene
S. Reed High School at age 15, she
attended the Normal School of
Bellingham, now Western Wash-
ington University, for two years
and then had a third year of high-
er education at the University of
Washington. Her mother had also
studied education at Bellingham,
and in her day teachers only need-
ed three years of college.
SINCE BY THE time Betty
returned to teaching she needed
a four-year degree she returned
to college. She later earned a
mastex' d in education from
Pacific Liithera4a . University as
she prepared to move up to an ad-
ministrative position. Betty rose
to become principal ,.at Southside
in 1974, later climbing to the rank
of superintendent. During most
this time she continued to teach,
now working with students in the
fourth grade. Betty retired in the
late Eighties.
"Let's just say I learned a lot.
It became more political than it
had been earlier. Lots of papers to
do. Lots of papers to fill out, sign,"
she recalls of her days working as
principal and superintendent. She
was really grateful to have very
competent office staff to help her
Mell Chevrolet
where the satisfied
customers buy ...
Were we helpful, courteous and friendly'? YeS
Were you pleased with the way your vehicle was delivered? YeS'
Would you recommend us to friends? ec//it/te/Y
We would appreciate your comments: te woeldn't 1__
en?where else
Kevln
own country, and I think it's good
for kids to see that when they're
growing up," she considers. "If we
didn't associate with them, we
didn't have anyone to play with."
Retirement didn't keep Betty
out of the school scene, though.
She has been active in Friends of
Olympic College and in the early
Nineties she was influential in ar-
ranging for a counselor from the
Bremerton campus to help guide
students at the Shelton branch
transfer to a four-year college. She
has also been a volunteer tutor.
The Mason General Hospital
Foundation recently named Betty
as an outstanding business wom-
an in the community. She hasn't
stopped learning, either, having
just finishing up her doctorate de-
gree in family and consumer sci-
ence through Iowa State Univer-
sity.
"I THOUGHT I'D never learn
any younger," she jokes, a smile
twinkling through her eyes. So
far, Betty has completed all of the
necessary research and has taken
classes both on-line and in person,
even staying in the dorms, along
with her daughter Karen, who ini-
tially invited her to join her in pur-
suing a PhD.
Carrying on her family's lega-
cy, both of her daughters became
teachers, as did one of her grand-
daughters. One of the reasons she
chose to further study home eco-
nomics is the fact that the subject
reaches far beyond simply cooking
and sewing.
"They teach personal relation-
ships, consumer science, money
management. They do all these
things that are part of life," she
explains. "Some people looked on
it as not being intellectual enough,
and here they are
that we use practically
of our lives!"
She should know since
a tbrmer 4-H club leader,
maintained that position for
30 years. Before becoming a 1
er, she participated in 4-tt
little girl, doing cooking and!
ing projects.
"THEY DIDN'T have
projects that they have
she says, calling the wide
topics 4-H offers youngsters
days "wonderful!" When she
young, a 4-H agent would
local clubs, teaching
skills and techniques. "For
women who didn't have
education, that was a
thing," she remembers. The
ington State University
County Extension office
vides plenty of resources
ticipants to apply to their
day life.
(Please turn to
N.$. - Iloods#ort
t0% OFF ALL PARTS AND SERVICE
Seniors age 55 and over (Up to =100 savings)
Ron McLean
with all the .procedures and paper-
work.
This was quite a leap from her
very first job picking strawber-
ries at Stets Berry Farm just a
few miles down the road from her
childhood home, which her par-
ents, Mr. and Mrs. Hurst, built.
The house still stands to this day.
Laboring in the strawberry
fields over the summer season
earned her and her neighborhood
friends less than a dollar per crate
"but it was a lot of money for us,"
she remembers.
WHEN SHE was a little girl
and still a Southside student
about 20 or 30 children were en-
rolled in the school. "If you felt like
you wanted to leave anybody out,
there weren't enough kids to play
games," she remembers, "I often
think about that, how kids in the
country didn't know other kids."
Cultural diversity was evident
even back then. There were a
number of Scandinavian immi-
grants living hereabouts during
her childhood. "Their language
and customs were a little differ-
ent, just like people from other
cpuntries are different from our
Save
This event is free
Wednesday, May 23 • 6-8 p.m.
Shehon Timberland Library
710 W. Alder Street
Oakland Bay
BCHW
PRIZE FIIDEt]I-""
Saturday,----- "'May 26] | ,..
/.! ::,
Kennedy Creek iiili|: i i
w
at marker 369 .
Follow signs onto I!
Old Olympic HWY :J |','I re,
off Hwy 101 :|! Y
Food and Great Prizes ] | a
!: | 1
,n,o? !!1,
r;
y On The S YOU
New Owner * All New Products * New Store!
• BEST QUALITY for Your Money/* Better Selection
330 W. Railroad Ave • (360) 432-3083
Downtown Shelton at Evergreen Plaza
Monday - Saturday 9 am - 8 pro, Sunday 10 am - 6 pm !
www.trlib.org
704-1NFO
Timberland
Regional
Professional actors from Seattle's
Theatre bring to life the story of MyAntonia by
Willa Cather through dramatic readings.
The Big Read is an_initiat" tix
of the National EndOWa¢°
for the Arts in parm ershit
e • IIIS¢IIII
with the Institute otW
and Library Services d
Arts Midwest.
Page 14 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, May 17, 2007