Betty Buhre

Betty’s family and ancestors back to her great grandparents have all lived in Tacoma.

Betty’s grandmother and mother were aware that Franke Tobey Jones building was being made, and both had decided that they would come here when it was time. Betty’s mother was born in 1898 and graduated from Stadium High School in 1916.

They both moved into Lillian Pratt at the same time, her grandmother was 98 and her mother was 78.  Lillian Pratt was not Assisted Living at that time. Women were not allowed to wear pants. Men had to wear suits for dinner. The dinners “were the best food in all of Tacoma”.

Her grandmother lived in room 208 (which is where Betty herself lives now). Betty’s mother lived two doors down.  Shortly after moving in, her grandmother fell and broke her hip and was moved to the “Infirmary” at the back of LP. At that time, they wouldn’t let people let people get out of bed on their own.  But Betty’s mother would get her each day in a wheelchair and bring her to Betty’s mother’s room for the day. Grandmother died at age 99.

Betty’s mother had a Singer sewing machine in her room. She and others would make felt Christmas ornaments for the community spaces. People loved to play cards, especially pinocle and canasta. They also loved playing shuffleboard. There was a shuffleboard court outside Lillian Pratt.

At some point Franke Tobey Jones turned Lillian Pratt into Assisted Living and they wanted Betty’s mother to move to Tobey Jones. She refused. Since Betty’s mother was a very meek and quiet person, her refusal took everyone by surprise, and they let her stay.  She was in Lillian Pratt for 20 years and died when she was 98.

Betty remembers how much her mother loved the Teas, that were once a year in Tobey Jones and the people from Lillian Pratt went to Tobey Jones for the Teas. 

Betty herself is 99 now (born 1924 !!). She and her husband lived on Proctor and have 6 children. The kids used to ride their bikes up to Franke Tobey Jones.  Nothing was here except Tobey Jones. The kids thought that it was so big it was scary, and they didn’t know what the building was. Betty’s husband was a dispatcher for the Tacoma fire department. After their 6^th child went to kindergarten Betty took a job as a receptionist for an Orthopedic doctor.  Betty and her husband moved into the Garden Apartments in 2005. They loved their apartment, with a balcony on one of the corners. Sadly, her husband died in 2008.  Betty moved to Lillian Pratt “about 3 years ago”.

Betty is a wonderful storyteller and has a wonderful laugh. I enjoyed meeting her and talking with her.  (Interviewed by Pam Baker)

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