GRAVETTE -- There were a few teary eyes last Saturday as folks said farewell to a longtime Gravette Public Library volunteer.
Library manager Kim Schneider, library staff members and Mayor Byron Warren were on hand to honor Betty Adams, who has volunteered faithfully for more than 30 years.
All acknowledged that "Miss Betty," as she is known, has been a tremendous asset to the library, performing whatever duties she could to help keep the place running smoothly. During those years, she has served under five librarians.
When "Miss Betty" announced recently that she was stepping down from her volunteer duties after recent health problems, the news was met with mixed emotions. She has certainly earned a rest, but she will be sorely missed by all who knew her. Patrons were accustomed to seeing her bustling about the library shelving books, tidying up or doing whatever she was asked to do. She always greeted the regulars with a friendly smile and a cheery greeting. She operated the library's senior bookmobile for several years and took books to the Billy V. Hall Senior Activity Center each week for patrons there to check out.
Betty Adams was born April 18, 1927, in Minnesota. She lived there on a farm with her parents, two brothers and a sister until 1938. The family moved to Arkansas in the fall of 1938 and lived near Rogers for a year. She attended Oak Hill Elementary School there. Then the family moved again, to the Maysville area, and Betty attended Wet Prairie Elementary through the eighth grade. She attended four years of high school in Southwest City, Mo., and graduated second in her class in 1945.
She lived and worked in Tulsa, Okla., for six years and then, in 1951, moved to Los Angeles, Calif. There she entered civil service and worked for the city of Los Angeles and the county of Los Angeles until her retirement in 1983. She returned to Gravette that year to help care for her elderly mother.
When Betty's mother died, she was recruited by Mary McKee and Marilyn Phillips to volunteer at the library.
"Jody Kanton was librarian at the time," she recalls. "That was before the turn of the century! Another way of putting it is: that was five librarians ago!"
Betty was accompanied to the party Saturday by her niece, Carole Dixon from Siloam Springs, who has been helping her recently. She was presented a plaque, as well as a bouquet of flowers and a cake. The cake was served with Dr. Pepper floats as Dr. Pepper is Betty's favorite soft drink. She was not satisfied, however, without doing one last service for the library. She gave the library manager a generous donation for the building fund.
Guests at Saturday's party enjoyed hearing "Miss Betty" reminisce about her life. She confessed that one of her favorite pastimes was creating limericks, and she wrote this one for the occasion:
"There once was an octogenarian who worked with the local librarians. She put away books in the crannies and nooks until she could no longer carry on."
Community on 10/22/2014