Life and History of Betty Lou Davis Tibbitts

Betty Lou Davis was born on April 10, 1924 on a farm in Egin, Idaho to Lew Wallace Davis and Ethelyn Caroline Rice.  She was the third girl in the family. Her parents were going to move and they waited and waited and decided to move anyways and then the day after they moved Betty came.   A midwife would come in to help assist in the birth.

She moved to St. Anthony when she was three or four years old and that is where her only brother was born.  She remembers running outside to tell the neighbors about her brand new little brother, Herb.

During her grade school years her family would move out to Egin, Idaho during the summers to help on the family farm and then when school started they would move back to St. Anthony.

During her childhood she would play summer outdoor games with her siblings such as run sheep run, and hide and seek. During the winter she would make snow forts, or just play in the snow.  They also had many cousins around the area and she loved playing with them.

When she was in high school she worked at the local drug store as a soda jerk, a place where the teenagers would hang out.  She worked there during the summer at two different drug stores as a soda jerk, for two different summers. She attended St. Anthony High School (South Fremont High School) and was active in the Glee Club where she accompanied them as well as sang for this group.  This started her love for music, which continued throughout her life.  She accompanied five violinists that would travel around to such places as Grand Junction, Colorado and Pocatello, Idaho to compete in music festivals.

Betty met Cleve, her future husband because her older sister Donna had a crush on him.  He delivered the local paper and Donna would wait for him every day.  Betty knew of him from Donna.

In April of her senior year of high school she developed a goiter in her neck and was admitted into the hospital for two weeks, which required surgery.  The surgery would have to be done in Salt Lake City, Utah.  This was extremely hard for her.  She was in Salt Lake City for two weeks because she had to gain weight before they would do the surgery. She was very alone there, but Cleve would come and visit her and bring her home after her two-week stay. She had to drop out of school because she missed so much school and she missed her graduation; she was upset because she had gotten a new dress for her graduation. She received your diploma after she wrote a paper.  The doctors advised her that she not attend school after this.

After a couple summers home Betty’s sister, Donna talked her into coming to California and working with her in the engineering department working with the P-51 fighter planes.

Cleve gave her a ring before he was drafted into World War II and they were married on April 10, 1945 on her 21^st birthday in the Salt Lake City Temple.  Cleve returned home with an honorable discharge with pension.  She is not sure why that day was picked but Cleve wanted to be home to help with the planting of the crops on the farm. 

Cleve’s family were very good friends with the owners of Hotel Utah in Salt Lake City and his family tried to arranged for Betty and Cleve to get the Honeymoon Suite.  Because it was during the war they could not get the room.  They called everywhere and could not find a room anywhere.  Cleve’s mother and Betty’s mother went down to Utah for the wedding and got a room in Hotel Utah.  It was a Jack and Jill room with connecting bathrooms.  The night before the wedding they slept with their mothers and after they were married they spent the night across the way from their mother-in-laws.

They moved to Salt Lake City for Cleve to attend college.  They lived in a tiny studio apartment, so tiny they had to go to the bathroom in the hallway.  This is where their first child Camille was born.  A month after she was born, Betty hemorrhaged.  They were not charged for the hospital bill because the doctor knew it was his fault.

They moved back to St. Anthony after Cleve graduated and lived with Betty’s mom. Her mom was living alone since her father had died the summer before.  They lived with her while their house was being built.  This is where the rest of her five children were born.

In 1955 she joined the Mello Dairies a local singing group. She was with them for a total of 50 years.  She started out as the organist and the last 37 years as the director.  She would travel around the area with the group doing stage shows in the spring, and a Christmas program each year.

She also sang with a group called Relief Society Singing Mother’s that sang at General Conference.  Later in her life she realized one of her dreams of practicing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  Her granddaughter is a member of this group and helped realize this dream.

In 1992 Cleve and Betty turned in their papers to serve in the Adelaide, Australia mission.

She continues to live in the home she and Cleve built over 60 years ago.  She enjoys spending time with her children and grandchildren and serving those around her.