To generations of kids, she is `Grandma Betty'

EAST WENATCHEE - She has been Grandma Betty to hundreds of children, and at 79 she's still going strong as a popular sitter for five local families.

On a recent day off, Betty Carson of East Wenatchee was baking a rhubarb pie for the father in one of her baby-sitting families.

"I found out we both have birthdays on May 15 and he loves rhubarb pie," she said.

Such personal touches are typical for Carson, whose love of baby-sitting has patched dozens of families into her life over nearly six decades.

"One little boy didn't realize until he got older that I wasn't his real grandma," Carson said. "When he finally figured it out, he said, `You're just my friend-grandma.' "

Meegan Carlson of Wenatchee remembers how, as a middle-school student, she helped Carson baby-sit. Now Carlson has three sons, ages 1, 3, and 5, who often get Grandma Betty as their sitter.

"I love how she's interactive with them," said Carlson. "Instead of letting them watch TV like teenage sitters, she plays with them, takes them outside a lot, and reads to them."

Most children, Carlson said, are upset to see a sitter come and their parents leave. But with Grandma Betty, "my boys are excited to have us leave."

A long waiting list

Sarah Voth, an East Wenatchee mother of four, said her family waited for years to get on Carson's schedule for regular sitting.

"It's so special how, even at her age, she gets down on the floor to play with them," Voth said. "She helps them with puzzles and plays with their toys. She even brings along homemade cookies and play clay."

That's the key to Carson's sitter philosophy: "I devote all my time to the children while I'm there. I might do dishes or fold laundry while they nap. But while they're awake, I'm there for them."

Carson has eight grandchildren of her own, now teens or young adults in Alaska, Yakima and the Tacoma area. Their memories of visiting Grandma include browsing through old photo albums, playing on swings at East Wenatchee parks, and eating her roast dinners with German Mennonite zwieback rolls.

Carson was born in Siberia into a Mennonite family; when she was 7, they and nine other families fled communism in a daring midnight escape to China by sleigh over a frozen river. After an impoverished year in China - they lived on rice and water, plus a little milk on Sundays - they got sponsors to immigrate to the United States, settling near Dinuba, Calif.

Carson grew up helping care for her nine siblings, then got a job baby-sitting for a family that ran a bakery. There, she met a young man who came in to buy sweet rolls. They married and moved to Wenatchee, where she began baby-sitting for families in her church.

Long hours caring for kids

Her 15 years of running a day care meant welcoming some youngsters at 6:30 a.m., and waving goodbye to the last one at 7 or 8 p.m. She got paid $1.50 a day per child. She provided lunch and snacks.

"Often I'd bake cookies at midnight and get to bed at 2 a.m., only to get up again at 6 a.m.," Carson recalled. "I couldn't do that now, but I did it then."

Her day care helped support her family of four children when her husband Tom broke his leg and couldn't work. Then one day in 1967, Carson got a surprise visit from Joan Erickson, who led the federally funded Head Start program for disadvantaged pre-schoolers and their families. Carson's daughters had cleaned house for Erickson.

"She came on Friday and wanted me to start working for her at Head Start on Monday!" Carson recalled. She notified her day care people and started a 19-year career with that program. When she retired, she simply kept showing up at Head Start as a volunteer. For more than 40 years, she also has been a Sunday school teacher or church nursery worker.

Carson doesn't charge to baby-sit, although her families still pay her "too much," she says. Some also help her with home projects.

"You have to want to do what you do," Carson said, "and I love baby-sitting. It fills my time. One of these days when I get tired, I'll quit."