In FOCUS - Betty Glenn

Betty Glenn - A legacy rooted in Faith, Family, and the Farm. She is a lifelong resident of Hancock County. With 70 years of living among the rolling hills of the Glenn family farm. At 94 years young, (she’ll be 95 in a couple of weeks) she remains the heart of her family and the soul of the farm that has been home to generations. While fields have been planted and harvested, children have grown into parents and grandparents, and the world around us has changed countless times, one thing has remained constant: her unwavering love, strength, and dedication to God and to her family.

Betty graduated from Chester High School in 1949 and subsequently Ohio Valley Business College in 1951. She worked as a secretary for Taylor, Smith & Taylor Pottery. In 1953 she met Don Glenn at a square dance at the Hookstown Grange Hall. Safe to say that Don swept her off her feet. If the two of them weren’t square dancing, then they were doing the polka. They danced and danced all the way to the altar where they were married in January 1955. Their love story continued for 56 wonderful years until Don’s death in 2011.

Betty shares that growing up – there wasn’t a lot of money. So on Saturday nights, her parents would drive to East Liverpool, Ohio. They would park on Fifth Street. Everyone would visit and shop in stores such as Woolworth 5-10, JCPenney, and Montgomery Ward. Then everybody would go to Isaly’s for ice cream.  She also fondly remembers the end of year grade school picnics at Rock Springs Park. At that time, the picnics were county wide and the families would bring the food. Can you just imagine the potluck delights that must have been sampled? I’m sure no one walked away hungry. In High School, and still to this day, Betty loved the Theater. She was in several plays. She also played clarinet in the band. Betty says, “Life was great. We had good times with no phones, no computers, and no tv. We could add without an adding machine and write in cursive.” She was blessed with teachers and role models that made sure she was ready for the ‘real’ world. She fondly recalls a minister by the name of Reverend Flurkey that instilled in her the importance of religion in her life. He wove faith into the fabric of her everyday life. He nurtured her spiritual growth and led by example.

She brought those values, skills and ideals with her to the Fairview Presbyterian Church in New Manchester. Where she was the Sunday School Superintendent for 26 years. The church would joke that you had to die or have a baby to get out of that position. Betty chuckles and says, “But I had a baby and laid her on the seat while I continued my job.”

Betty will tell you – “I am my own person.” I don’t doubt that one bit. She continues to stay active within her church and several organizations. She stays busy and enjoys time hanging clothes on the line and ironing. She still cans, preserves, and cooks family sized meals. She shares her love of baking with her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. (Her granddaughter even beat Betty in a pie baking contest at a local county fair.) Betty always encouraged her children, and grandchildren to be their own person too. To not follow the crowd, but have high principles, lofty goals and to reach for those goals.

As the matriarch of the family farm, she has spent a lifetime nurturing more than crops and livestock. She cultivated values that continue to be just as important today: hard work, perseverance, kindness, faith, and the importance of helping others. Through long days and changing seasons, she taught by example that there is dignity in honest work and beauty in a life devoted to serving those you love. She cherishes many fond memories of running the farm. Betty and Don raised dairy and beef cattle. (All the while, Don was also working at Weirton Steel.) It was hard work and long hours. Betty proudly shares that their farm was named Conservation Farm of the Year three different times by the Northern Panhandle Soil Conservation District.  

The Glenn family farm has always been more than land and buildings. Because of Betty and Don, it became a place where families gathered around the kitchen table, celebrated milestones, shared stories, and found comfort during difficult times. Their home was a place where everyone was welcome, where a meal was always waiting, and where love was given freely and abundantly. Time passed - the family grew. Along came her greatest blessings: children, grandchildren, and then great grandchildren.

Then came a really humid day in May of 2024. Stormy skies lingered into the night.  Betty was in bed, in her second story bedroom, when a warning tone on her cellphone woke her up sometime around 1:30 a.m. She looked up at the TV that was on and all she saw was a red screen. She knew something was happening, but she didn’t know what. She heard the wind howling and thought to herself, ‘I should go downstairs.’ She remembers loud cracks of wood breaking as the farmhouse was torn apart. The electric was out and the lightning flashes were the only illuminations. She saw walls being ripped away and glass windows shattering. The broken glass was everywhere. She sat down. It didn’t really dawn on her what was going on. The old myth was that a tornado couldn’t happen in this neck of the woods because of the hills. Well, that myth was busted! The first ever recorded tornado among the rolling hills of Shepherd’s Valley left homes and farmlands destroyed.

Betty sat in a rocking chair, wrapped in a blanket. Suddenly everything was over. The tornado had passed. Soon she saw flashing lights of emergency vehicles and heard people calling her name at the back of the house. When Betty heard the familiar voice of a deputy friend, she said “Chad, I’m right here.” She didn’t panic. She said she wasn’t one bit scared.  Her fingers and knuckles were badly skinned from coming down the stairs and trying to move boards and things away from her. Other than that, there wasn’t a scratch on her – or the chair for that matter. Destruction surrounded her and her neighbors. Homes were damaged, trees were uprooted and lives were forever changed. Amid all that chaos and rubble, there sat Betty. Facing the storm with the same quiet courage and fierce resilience that has defined who she is, even to this day. The tornado may have shaken the ground beneath her feet, but it could not and did not shake her spirit!

Her story reminds us that true strength is not found in never facing adversity. It is found in facing adversity and continuing forward. It is found in choosing hope when circumstances are difficult and in finding reasons to be thankful after the storm has passed. The tornado may be part of her story, but it does not define her. What defines her is the grace with which she has lived, the family she has nurtured, and the legacy she continues to build every day.

Today, her legacy can be seen in every corner of the farm and in every member of the family she helped shape. It lives on in the work ethic she instilled, the traditions she preserved, and the love she poured into those around her. Her hands helped build the farm, but her strength, perseverance and love built the family legacy that will endure for generations to come.

She is part of the roots of the Glenn family tree, the keeper of their life stories, and the foundation upon which so much has been built. Her life's harvest is not measured in acres or bushels, but in the generations of love she has grown. In the impact that her volunteer work has made on our community. In her steadfast spirit that continues to inspire everyone that is fortunate enough to know her. In the kind words from her neighbors who shared that the world needs more neighbors like Betty. Neighbors say her kindness, warmth, and generous spirit made their corner of the world a better place. Thank you Betty for being the person you are! For making a difference in people’s lives, for being a blessed answer to someone’s prayer. For being a role model to so many.

It’s difficult to summarize in such a short article the life story of this remarkable woman. As I was interviewing her, I kept thinking to myself, Wow!  Her life is a testament to courage, faith, love, and the enduring power of the human spirit. And just like the strongest trees that remain standing after the fiercest winds, Betty Glenn stands as a reminder that resilience, faith, and love can carry us through any storm.