Her real name was Sarah Elizabeth, but when she was young she was referred to as "Bettie." As she grew older that became shortened to "Bet" but among the children in the family she was always "Aunt Bet" regardless of whether she was their actual aunt or not. She was born in 1876 but the exact day and month are not certain. The 1900 census, the tombstone, and the date she often used are different. She and her brother John Taylor Sanders were the only two children of Jesse and Amanda who were born in Stephenville in Erath County. The other five children were born after the family moved back to Murchison in Henderson County.
--Memorial by her nephew Gary. B. Sanders
Tyler Courier-Times Telegraph, Sunday, February 17, 1974:
Athens (spl.) - - Funeral services for Mrs. Bettie Carroll, 97 of Athens, are set at 2 P.M. Sunday in the chapel of Foster & Brown Funeral Home with the Rev. Frank Henriques officiating. Burial will be in Red Hill Cemetery near Murchison.
She died Friday night in an Athens convalescence home after a long illness. She had resided in Murchison until moving to Athens, and was a lifelong resident of Henderson county. She was a member of the First Christian Church of Athens, and was a housewife.
Survivors include several stepchildren and nephews and nieces. Pallbearers will be John Bailey, Richard Cox, Albert Gothard, Travis Barton, Darrell Parker, and Clyde Williams.
Her Nephew Gary B. Sanders recalls: Everyone called her "Bet," when I knew her, though I guess they called her Betty or Bettie when she was young. According to what my father told me, she fell in love with Frank Carroll when she was young, but he married another woman. Eventually when his first wife died, he married Aunt Bet when she was a spinsterish 53 years old. I didn't know her until she was over 65 years old, so I remember her as an old woman who loved children and whose favorite epithet was "fiddlesticks."
The following article was written by Gurley Sanders, her nephew, who was a reporter for the Athens newspaper.
From The Athens Gazette newspaper, about 1965
THAT COLD FRIDAY HELD HIGH TRUMP
That Cold Friday--
Well, it was a ringtail tooter.
Not many people are still alive who remember the day; it was a long time ago, shortly before the turn of the century. There were no weather instruments in the county to record the temperature readings, but That Cold Friday must have been the coldest day since the retreat of the glaciers. One who does remember the cold spell--and remembers it vividly--is Mrs. Betty Carroll, 89, of Murchison. "I don't want to see another one like it," she declared. "I still shiver when I think about it."
Mrs. Carroll, called "Bet" by everybody in Murchison and most people in the county, is a member of a pioneer Murchison family. Although unable to pinpoint precisely the date of That Cold Friday, Bet is inclined to believe it was February of 1896. She was almost a grown girl when the memorable blue norther whistled in.
"It got so cold," Bet recalled, "that a pan of water tossed out the door would freeze before it hit the ground." Tails of horses and cows froze still. Chickens' feet froze and broke off like brittle sticks. the fowls bodies, insulated by feathers, survived the frigid blast without breaking.
Bet recalls that Tom Taylor, who operated the only store in Murchison at the time, suffered a heavy loss in merchandise. "All the stock was lost except such good as coffee," she said. "All the bottled foods busted, and the canned goods were ruined."
Bet recollects many things and many People and many events of the long ago. She remembers dances in the school house; she remembers delightful parties in private homes; she remembers picking cotton along the stretch of ground now occupied by Highway 31; she remembers the violence of the fading frontier; she even remembers a bay mare with an exceptionally long tail that almost dragged the ground.
In retrospect, Bet evaluates much of Life's three-act play as vanity and vexation of spirit. Mentally alert and perceptive at 89, Bet does not occupy all her wakeful moments with inspection of the past. She is an avid reader, requiring no assistance from glasses in order to perform this function, and her intellectual interests are astonishing broad in scope. . . Bet holds no patience with those who would tamper with the freedom of the human mind, who would interfere with personal choice, who would try to weld the human intellect into a pattern not agreeable to its own bent.
--Memorial by her nephew Gary. B. Sanders
Tyler Courier-Times Telegraph, Sunday, February 17, 1974:
Athens (spl.) - - Funeral services for Mrs. Bettie Carroll, 97 of Athens, are set at 2 P.M. Sunday in the chapel of Foster & Brown Funeral Home with the Rev. Frank Henriques officiating. Burial will be in Red Hill Cemetery near Murchison.
She died Friday night in an Athens convalescence home after a long illness. She had resided in Murchison until moving to Athens, and was a lifelong resident of Henderson county. She was a member of the First Christian Church of Athens, and was a housewife.
Survivors include several stepchildren and nephews and nieces. Pallbearers will be John Bailey, Richard Cox, Albert Gothard, Travis Barton, Darrell Parker, and Clyde Williams.
Her Nephew Gary B. Sanders recalls: Everyone called her "Bet," when I knew her, though I guess they called her Betty or Bettie when she was young. According to what my father told me, she fell in love with Frank Carroll when she was young, but he married another woman. Eventually when his first wife died, he married Aunt Bet when she was a spinsterish 53 years old. I didn't know her until she was over 65 years old, so I remember her as an old woman who loved children and whose favorite epithet was "fiddlesticks."
The following article was written by Gurley Sanders, her nephew, who was a reporter for the Athens newspaper.
From The Athens Gazette newspaper, about 1965
THAT COLD FRIDAY HELD HIGH TRUMP
That Cold Friday--
Well, it was a ringtail tooter.
Not many people are still alive who remember the day; it was a long time ago, shortly before the turn of the century. There were no weather instruments in the county to record the temperature readings, but That Cold Friday must have been the coldest day since the retreat of the glaciers. One who does remember the cold spell--and remembers it vividly--is Mrs. Betty Carroll, 89, of Murchison. "I don't want to see another one like it," she declared. "I still shiver when I think about it."
Mrs. Carroll, called "Bet" by everybody in Murchison and most people in the county, is a member of a pioneer Murchison family. Although unable to pinpoint precisely the date of That Cold Friday, Bet is inclined to believe it was February of 1896. She was almost a grown girl when the memorable blue norther whistled in.
"It got so cold," Bet recalled, "that a pan of water tossed out the door would freeze before it hit the ground." Tails of horses and cows froze still. Chickens' feet froze and broke off like brittle sticks. the fowls bodies, insulated by feathers, survived the frigid blast without breaking.
Bet recalls that Tom Taylor, who operated the only store in Murchison at the time, suffered a heavy loss in merchandise. "All the stock was lost except such good as coffee," she said. "All the bottled foods busted, and the canned goods were ruined."
Bet recollects many things and many People and many events of the long ago. She remembers dances in the school house; she remembers delightful parties in private homes; she remembers picking cotton along the stretch of ground now occupied by Highway 31; she remembers the violence of the fading frontier; she even remembers a bay mare with an exceptionally long tail that almost dragged the ground.
In retrospect, Bet evaluates much of Life's three-act play as vanity and vexation of spirit. Mentally alert and perceptive at 89, Bet does not occupy all her wakeful moments with inspection of the past. She is an avid reader, requiring no assistance from glasses in order to perform this function, and her intellectual interests are astonishing broad in scope. . . Bet holds no patience with those who would tamper with the freedom of the human mind, who would interfere with personal choice, who would try to weld the human intellect into a pattern not agreeable to its own bent.
Her real name was Sarah Elizabeth, but when she was young she was referred to as "Bettie." As she grew older that became shortened to "Bet" but among the children in the family she was always "Aunt Bet" regardless of whether she was their actual aunt or not. She was born in 1876 but the exact day and month are not certain. The 1900 census, the tombstone, and the date she often used are different. She and her brother John Taylor Sanders were the only two children of Jesse and Amanda who were born in Stephenville in Erath County. The other five children were born after the family moved back to Murchison in Henderson County.
--Memorial by her nephew Gary. B. Sanders
Tyler Courier-Times Telegraph, Sunday, February 17, 1974:
Athens (spl.) - - Funeral services for Mrs. Bettie Carroll, 97 of Athens, are set at 2 P.M. Sunday in the chapel of Foster & Brown Funeral Home with the Rev. Frank Henriques officiating. Burial will be in Red Hill Cemetery near Murchison.
She died Friday night in an Athens convalescence home after a long illness. She had resided in Murchison until moving to Athens, and was a lifelong resident of Henderson county. She was a member of the First Christian Church of Athens, and was a housewife.
Survivors include several stepchildren and nephews and nieces. Pallbearers will be John Bailey, Richard Cox, Albert Gothard, Travis Barton, Darrell Parker, and Clyde Williams.
Her Nephew Gary B. Sanders recalls: Everyone called her "Bet," when I knew her, though I guess they called her Betty or Bettie when she was young. According to what my father told me, she fell in love with Frank Carroll when she was young, but he married another woman. Eventually when his first wife died, he married Aunt Bet when she was a spinsterish 53 years old. I didn't know her until she was over 65 years old, so I remember her as an old woman who loved children and whose favorite epithet was "fiddlesticks."
The following article was written by Gurley Sanders, her nephew, who was a reporter for the Athens newspaper.
From The Athens Gazette newspaper, about 1965
THAT COLD FRIDAY HELD HIGH TRUMP
That Cold Friday--
Well, it was a ringtail tooter.
Not many people are still alive who remember the day; it was a long time ago, shortly before the turn of the century. There were no weather instruments in the county to record the temperature readings, but That Cold Friday must have been the coldest day since the retreat of the glaciers. One who does remember the cold spell--and remembers it vividly--is Mrs. Betty Carroll, 89, of Murchison. "I don't want to see another one like it," she declared. "I still shiver when I think about it."
Mrs. Carroll, called "Bet" by everybody in Murchison and most people in the county, is a member of a pioneer Murchison family. Although unable to pinpoint precisely the date of That Cold Friday, Bet is inclined to believe it was February of 1896. She was almost a grown girl when the memorable blue norther whistled in.
"It got so cold," Bet recalled, "that a pan of water tossed out the door would freeze before it hit the ground." Tails of horses and cows froze still. Chickens' feet froze and broke off like brittle sticks. the fowls bodies, insulated by feathers, survived the frigid blast without breaking.
Bet recalls that Tom Taylor, who operated the only store in Murchison at the time, suffered a heavy loss in merchandise. "All the stock was lost except such good as coffee," she said. "All the bottled foods busted, and the canned goods were ruined."
Bet recollects many things and many People and many events of the long ago. She remembers dances in the school house; she remembers delightful parties in private homes; she remembers picking cotton along the stretch of ground now occupied by Highway 31; she remembers the violence of the fading frontier; she even remembers a bay mare with an exceptionally long tail that almost dragged the ground.
In retrospect, Bet evaluates much of Life's three-act play as vanity and vexation of spirit. Mentally alert and perceptive at 89, Bet does not occupy all her wakeful moments with inspection of the past. She is an avid reader, requiring no assistance from glasses in order to perform this function, and her intellectual interests are astonishing broad in scope. . . Bet holds no patience with those who would tamper with the freedom of the human mind, who would interfere with personal choice, who would try to weld the human intellect into a pattern not agreeable to its own bent.
--Memorial by her nephew Gary. B. Sanders
Tyler Courier-Times Telegraph, Sunday, February 17, 1974:
Athens (spl.) - - Funeral services for Mrs. Bettie Carroll, 97 of Athens, are set at 2 P.M. Sunday in the chapel of Foster & Brown Funeral Home with the Rev. Frank Henriques officiating. Burial will be in Red Hill Cemetery near Murchison.
She died Friday night in an Athens convalescence home after a long illness. She had resided in Murchison until moving to Athens, and was a lifelong resident of Henderson county. She was a member of the First Christian Church of Athens, and was a housewife.
Survivors include several stepchildren and nephews and nieces. Pallbearers will be John Bailey, Richard Cox, Albert Gothard, Travis Barton, Darrell Parker, and Clyde Williams.
Her Nephew Gary B. Sanders recalls: Everyone called her "Bet," when I knew her, though I guess they called her Betty or Bettie when she was young. According to what my father told me, she fell in love with Frank Carroll when she was young, but he married another woman. Eventually when his first wife died, he married Aunt Bet when she was a spinsterish 53 years old. I didn't know her until she was over 65 years old, so I remember her as an old woman who loved children and whose favorite epithet was "fiddlesticks."
The following article was written by Gurley Sanders, her nephew, who was a reporter for the Athens newspaper.
From The Athens Gazette newspaper, about 1965
THAT COLD FRIDAY HELD HIGH TRUMP
That Cold Friday--
Well, it was a ringtail tooter.
Not many people are still alive who remember the day; it was a long time ago, shortly before the turn of the century. There were no weather instruments in the county to record the temperature readings, but That Cold Friday must have been the coldest day since the retreat of the glaciers. One who does remember the cold spell--and remembers it vividly--is Mrs. Betty Carroll, 89, of Murchison. "I don't want to see another one like it," she declared. "I still shiver when I think about it."
Mrs. Carroll, called "Bet" by everybody in Murchison and most people in the county, is a member of a pioneer Murchison family. Although unable to pinpoint precisely the date of That Cold Friday, Bet is inclined to believe it was February of 1896. She was almost a grown girl when the memorable blue norther whistled in.
"It got so cold," Bet recalled, "that a pan of water tossed out the door would freeze before it hit the ground." Tails of horses and cows froze still. Chickens' feet froze and broke off like brittle sticks. the fowls bodies, insulated by feathers, survived the frigid blast without breaking.
Bet recalls that Tom Taylor, who operated the only store in Murchison at the time, suffered a heavy loss in merchandise. "All the stock was lost except such good as coffee," she said. "All the bottled foods busted, and the canned goods were ruined."
Bet recollects many things and many People and many events of the long ago. She remembers dances in the school house; she remembers delightful parties in private homes; she remembers picking cotton along the stretch of ground now occupied by Highway 31; she remembers the violence of the fading frontier; she even remembers a bay mare with an exceptionally long tail that almost dragged the ground.
In retrospect, Bet evaluates much of Life's three-act play as vanity and vexation of spirit. Mentally alert and perceptive at 89, Bet does not occupy all her wakeful moments with inspection of the past. She is an avid reader, requiring no assistance from glasses in order to perform this function, and her intellectual interests are astonishing broad in scope. . . Bet holds no patience with those who would tamper with the freedom of the human mind, who would interfere with personal choice, who would try to weld the human intellect into a pattern not agreeable to its own bent.
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