Betty Stanford Lacey
Betty Lavina Stanford was born on Sept. 30, 1930, in Idaho near Jordan Valley, Ore., to Lawrence Ralph Stanford and Nina Evadne Stanford (nee Dietrick). She was the sixth of seven children: Leland (Lee), Lyman (Stub), Eugene (Jenny/Gene), Christy (Christy!), Florence (Flossie), Frank (Gub), and she was called “Bump.”
Though her mother Nina died at a young age, Betty remembered life at the ranch in great and happy detail and told her daughters many stories. She returned there all during her life to work, to visit and for restoration of spirit.
Ralphs’ brother Omer married Nina’s sister Lily and their two places adjoined one another. Nina and Lily were schoolteachers and taught their combined 11 children (Nellie, Joanne, Jerry and Jeff) and other kids from neighboring ranches in a one-room schoolhouse on Ralph’s ranch.
The first Stanford arrived in the Silver City area during the mining boom; the Dietricks immigrated later to the country. Betty was very proud of her place in the family, and the Stanford place in Silver City and Idaho history. She loved the ranch, her horses, not school so much, the dances in the area, visitors and her family.
Betty married Stanley Dan Carlow in a ceremony at the ranch. They worked for a time as ditch riders, then moved down to the valley in Owyhee County where they managed a restaurant, and then moved on to Weiser.
They had two daughters, Nina and Mary.
Betty and Stan divorced after a decade of marriage, and shortly afterward Stan died.
Betty worked hard at many jobs to support the girls: she took in laundry and cleaned houses, was an assistant to an optometrist, waited tables at the fascinating (for her girls) Washington Hotel, the Bus Depot, the (original) Metropole, the Beehive, the Athena Club where she met Buck Owens, and the Weiser Livestock Sale Yard. She was a Brownie leader and made sure the girls went to summer camp, Bible school and Girl Scouts. She cooked and rode at the Stanford ranch in the summers.
Betty married Howard Lacey six years after Stan died. The family lived on his ranch on Thousand Springs Valley on top of Midvale Hill stretching down toward the Weiser River. Howard’s young son John Lacey became her son in every way.
Betty rode and cooked, Nina and Mary did irrigating, milking, filling gas tanks and flagging, and John learned the custom combining business. The family often traveled by car in the winter and took many pre-combining-season fishing days on Fourth of July Creek.
Howard and Betty later drove many miles together: to see his Tennessee relatives, to Portland to visit Howard’s daughter Tempie Ann, to Arizona, and often to California to visit Howard’s son Tyrone and his wife Gail, who both later remained close to Betty.
Betty loved her horse at Jackson Creek, Cougar Bill, and later her horse at Thousand Springs, Little Bit. She trained Little Bit’s colt, Two Bits. She was an excellent rider and knew her way around cows.
Betty and Howard divorced after a long marriage and she moved to Weiser where Mary lived and worked. They shared much during those years.
Betty was a cancer survivor and had much support from the staff at MSTI, friends in Weiser, her sisters Florence and Christy, and especially Aunt Lily. She had another close call with death later after a back operation.
Lacking her horses, Betty became an inveterate and indomitable driver. This harkened back, for Nina and Mary, to when she would insist on going into the Stanford ranch by the most bumpy and unreliable route, the “north” road, which was the traditional route into the ranch when she was a kid. There were many exciting rainy and snowy rides down through creeks and up long hills.
She, Mary and Nina went on many drives around northern Idaho and eastern Oregon. An especially adventurous day included Mary’s execution of a 9-point-turn on the other side of Bear Saddle to get back home and safely off that ledge!
Betty loved country music and dancing. She was a generous hostess. She had many good friends. She was interested in people and helped them however she could. She was a great listener and those who talked with her felt heard. She loved especially her long visits with her sisters’ families and with Aunt Lily and cousin Jeff.
She always looked her best: often red lipstick and nails, always earrings and a scarf, and maybe a hat.
She supported, encouraged and helped her daughters and John in all ways she could. She was a member of the Eastern Star, the Mann Creek Busy Bees, and the Weiser Red Hat Ladies. She was a woman who lived life to the fullest.
Mary and Nina thank our cousins, Vikki, Toni, Robin, Louise and Paul for their support and help (we all recall an excellent summer day on Succor Creek where we kids splashed around in the waterhole and Mom sunbathed on the rocks!), and our Weiser friends, Maggie, Diane and Roberta, who have been so good during Mom’s final days.
Thanks especially to the kind and professional caregivers at Cascadia who took loving care of Betty until the very end. Special thanks go to our “other brother” Rodney, for being her champion, protector and companion there. We thank her good friend Elva Luna who visited every week and did her hair beautifully.
Betty is survived by her daughters Nina and Mary, and by her grandchildren: Odessa, Mandy, Jimmy and Cheri, who she loved dearly.
She goes to meet all her brothers and sisters and her beloved parents, and her aunts and uncles.
There will be a Celebration of Her Life on Saturday, Jan. 28 at noon at the Elks Lodge in Weiser at 38 W. Idaho St. A service and then a great meal will be served along with music and wonderful pictures of Betty’s life.
Category:
Signal American
18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
PH: (208) 549-1717
FAX: (208) 549-1718
Upcoming Events
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10/08/2024 - 9:00am
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