Thank You, Bettie

Shortly after we posted the sad news that Bettie Chase left us, the comments poured in to our Facebook page from everywhere.

"She was a grand lady," one reader wrote.

"A true icon to our community," said another.

"She was a kind, delightful woman with a fabulous sense of humor," noted a third.

"She was always there when someone needed some- thing."

And in almost every comment was this sentiment, now echoing throughout our community:

"She will be missed."

She will indeed. The town and the valley somehow feel quieter and perhaps a bit less vibrant knowing that Bettie, the grand dame, historian and marshal of Waitsburg, has departed these green rolling hills, these leafy streets where she grew up.

Of course the spirit of who she was and what she gave us will always remain.

Still being relative newcomers to Waitsburg, we are grateful to former Times editor Tom Baker for helping us put her life and her innumerable contributions in loving perspective on the front page, the only place befitting her importance to our town.

It leaves us to simply reminisce about the heart-warming encounters we ourselves had with Bettie in the past four years - each and every one of them as unforgettable as the one before it and the one after.

When Bettie was still mobile, she would wander down the sidewalk or get a car ride to Main Street from her little house on Seventh Street and step into the Times office, standing in the doorway, leaning on her cane, knowing her presence would be welcomed.

Often, all other work would stop and we'd listen to Bettie share a joke, a thought or a story that was invariably insight- ful and always delivered with a signature smile that hovered somewhere between a grandmother's wisdom and a gentle rib.

One time, after we called her for some advice about the years some former town resident was mayor of Waitsburg and got what we needed for our weekly story, she showed up unannounced a week or so later with the entire list of Waitsburg mayors since the city's founding in 1865.

But she was more than a source of history. As one of the Facebook readers aptly recalled, Bettie had a "fabulous sense of humor" and many of her funny quips and phrases graced the pages of the Times in a little box called "Bettie Sez."

They were one-liners that got you thinking or laughing out loud. For while, it was Bettie's mission to bring them in to the office - five or 10, handwritten on a yellow legal sheet. We knew she enjoyed coming into the building where she worked for so many years, no doubt keeping an eye on the new shepherds of the town's flagship news beacon like a mother who broods over her children.

Just a few years ago, Bettie and the other undisputed grand dame of Waitsburg, Jane Butler, rode as marshals in the Waitsburg parade, waving their flags and drawing well-deserved cheers from the crowd. We took pictures of them riding on the back seat of that vintage convertible, a breezeless morning sky and a Touchet sun lighting up their blue-haired smiles.

Who wouldn't save such an image for the ages, savor such a moment for a life time. We honored Bettie then and we honor her now, because she did more than honor us and those who came before us.

Thank you, Bettie, for everything you have done to help make Waitsburg the best little town we ever loved.