Betty White’s 100th birthday: Ohio town recalls her brief, stormy time there
Cyn Rosi, Digital Multi Media Journalist
BELLE CENTER, Ohio (WCMH) — History sleuths dug into town archives to find out about Betty White’s time there, and discovered a tale of two worlds.
Betty White — who died Dec. 31 but would have turned 100 years old on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022 — told The Daily Beast that her marriage was short-lived on the family’s Belle Center chicken farm, where her live-in in-laws sent her outside to kill the family’s dinner.
“I said, ‘No way!’” White wrote in a 2011 article. “That was a real trauma because I’m such an animal nut. I couldn’t hack it, so I split and came back to California. We were married eight months, and it was a very bad mistake early on.”
The story goes deeper than that. A wedding announcement showed White was taking poultry classes at Ohio State University in Columbus with her dashing husband, Captain Richard Barker.
This wedding announcement was in the Belle Center Herald-Voice on Aug. 16, 1945. According to Logan Historical Society, Barker’s parents and mother’s mother lived on Torrence St. in Belle Center. “Dick” and Betty may have lived on the farm.
Betty White called him “Dick,” but Barker was known around Belle Center — about 65 miles northwest of Columbus in Logan County — as Bud. Beth Marshall, an assistant curator at the Logan Historical Society, found this 1939 high school graduation photo. It’s easy to imagine that Barker would have been handsome in uniform.
Frederick Richard “Dick” Barker, in his Belle Center High School 1939 graduation photo.
“One of our volunteers used to visit with (Dick) at the diner, but she can’t recall ever knowing where the chicken farm was, but she is asking some of the old-timers around Belle Center,” Marshall said in an email to NBC4’s Cynthia Rosi.
It’s likely the Barkers never owned the farm that White talks about in her memoirs but rented it.
“Our volunteer is also good at genealogy websites, so she did find a marriage record that on July 9, 1945, Frederick R. Barker married a Betty M,” Marshall said.
But there was a chasm between Dick and Betty. This insight comes from historical society volunteer Judy Snyder, whose husband was a child when White and her husband called round.
“Bud had brought along his pet raccoon, and it relieved itself on Betty’s shoulder during the visit,” Snyder said.
White had married an airman called Dick, only to find he was just a country boy named Bud — with a chicken farm and a pet raccoon.
The actress soon left for her glamorous life, but Bud had come home.
Betty White through the years
FILE – Actress Betty White poses for a portrait in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 5, 1982. Betty White, whose saucy, up-for-anything charm made her a television mainstay for more than 60 years, has died. She was 99.
(AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)
FILE – Actress Betty White stands with Ted Knight at the Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sept. 13, 1981. Betty White, whose saucy, up-for-anything charm made her a television mainstay for more than 60 years, has died. She was 99. (AP Photo/Randy Rasmussen, File)
FILE – Actors from the television series “The ” Golden Girls” stand together during a break in taping Dec. 25, 1985 in Hollywood. From left are, Estelle Getty, Rue McClanahan, Bea Arthur and Betty White. Betty White, whose saucy, up-for-anything charm made her a television mainstay for more than 60 years, has died. She was 99. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)
FILE – Actress Betty White in 1965. Betty White, whose saucy, up-for-anything charm made her a television mainstay for more than 60 years, has died. She was 99. (AP Photo, File)
FILE – Actress Betty White poses for a portrait on the set of the television show “Hot in Cleveland” in Studio City section of Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 9, 2010. Betty White, whose saucy, up-for-anything charm made her a television mainstay for more than 60 years, has died. She was 99. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
FILE – Actress Betty White poses for a portrait following her appearance on the television talk show “In the House,” in Burbank, Calif., Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009. Betty White, whose saucy, up-for-anything charm made her a television mainstay for more than 60 years, has died. She was 99. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
FILE – Betty White poses for photographers on the red carpet before Comedy Central’s “Roast of William Shatner,” Sunday, Aug. 13, 2006, in Los Angeles. Betty White, whose saucy, up-for-anything charm made her a television mainstay for more than 60 years, has died. She was 99. (AP Photo/Rene Macura, File)
FILE – Betty White accepts the legend award at the TV Land Awards at the Saban Theatre on Saturday, April 11, 2015, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Betty White, whose saucy, up-for-anything charm made her a television mainstay for more than 60 years, has died. She was 99. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
FILE – Former cast members of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, sans Mary Tyler Moore, are reunited for the Museum of Television and Radio’s 9th annual Television Festival in Los Angeles on March 21, 1992. From left are Gavin MacLeod, Valerie Harper, Cloris Leachman, Betty White and Ed Asner. Betty White, whose saucy, up-for-anything charm made her a television mainstay for more than 60 years, has died. She was 99. (AP Photo/Craig Fujii, File)
FILE – In this May 18, 1976 file photo, cast members of the “Mary Tyler Moore Show,” pose with their Emmys backstage, at the 28th annual Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. From left are, Ed Asner, Betty White, Mary Tyler Moore and Ted Knight. Betty White, whose saucy, up-for-anything charm made her a television mainstay for more than 60 years, has died. She was 99. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, file)
FILE – Allen Ludden and his wife Betty White plays a game of cards in their home in Westchester, N.Y. on April 29, 1965. Betty White, whose saucy, up-for-anything charm made her a television mainstay for more than 60 years, has died. She was 99. (AP Photo/Bob Wands, File)
