[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 131 (Wednesday, August 2, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S4762]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO BETTY JENEL OLSEN CARR

 Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, today I wish to mark a wonderful 
occasion, a birthday that many do not live to celebrate. Today we honor 
the 95th birthday and wonderful life of Betty Jenel Olsen Carr, born in 
Kimberly, ID, on August 2, 1922. Her early life was very much what you 
would expect from rural Idaho in the 1920s, and in many ways, rural 
life there now still has some of these echoes of a strong work ethic 
and family values.
  Betty grew up with seven siblings in a family that learned self-
sufficiency and self-reliance on an 80-acre farm. Edith, Andy, Lamoin, 
Melba, Phil, Vera, Nina, and Betty lived cozily together with their 
parents, Hannah Marie Sandberg and Neils Albert Olsen, in a small, 
white wooden farmhouse that had no electricity or running water when 
Betty was a child. However, the home did have a black potbelly cast 
iron stove that kept everyone warm and fed.
  Education figured prominently in Betty's goals, as she graduated at 
the top of her Kimberly High School class, even though she skipped her 
final year of high school to start college. She fostered her love of 
reading through editing the school newspaper. She also played flute in 
the marching band and, improbably, at just 5 feet, 4 inches tall, 
played forward on the girls basketball team. She headed off to college 
at what was then called the Southern Branch of the University of 
Idaho--now Idaho State University--and studied journalism, but most 
importantly, she followed through on something she said in high school. 
She had been looking through her older sister's college yearbook and 
spotted the photo of a handsome young man. She declared, ``When I get 
to college, I am going to go out with that guy.'' She did indeed--she 
met and married Taylor Henry Carr a couple of years into college. 
Taylor served 3 years in World War II, and a family treasure is the 
love letters the two sent to each other during that difficult time that 
they were separated by his wartime service.
  When Taylor returned home, he completed his education at the medical 
school at the University of Utah with the help of the GI bill and 
became a surgeon. Betty and he raised their seven children in Idaho 
Falls, ID. Each of those children has become remarkable in their own 
right, contributing to their communities, States, and country --
Katherine Ann, Taylor Douglas, Phillip Olsen, Jan Elizabeth, Kenneth 
Wright, Steven Edward, and Gregory Curtis. Their home was filled with 
love, education, and adventure.
  From a personal perspective, there has never been a better child 
psychologist or wiser parent and aunt. Betty is my mother Melba's 
youngest sister--my beloved Aunt Betty, who was a second mother to me. 
She understood teenagers in a unique manner and knew just when to 
encourage me at those times when young people need to hear advice from 
someone who loves them and is not a parent. Growing up, I always knew I 
would find welcoming arms and a warm shoulder just a few blocks from my 
home. Aunt Betty understood that, ultimately, love and the relationship 
with our loved ones was more important than anything else, and she 
epitomized that with her acceptance and encouragement of even the 
craziest ideas. A few years ago, I was delighted to show her around the 
U.S. Capitol when she made the long trip from Idaho to Washington, DC. 
A treasured item on display in my personal office is a photo with her 
from that trip.
  Today Betty, the lifelong lover of reading, is as sharp as ever. At 
95, she remains active, interested, and involved. She races through the 
crossword puzzle, tends her garden and great-grandkids, and never 
misses exercise class or bridge club. She recently went underwater in a 
diving bell in Florida. I am privileged to claim her as part of my 
family and honored to recognize her longevity as an Idahoan. Happy, 
happy birthday.

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