People & Stories

Betty Lou Gaeng wrote about history

Betty Lou Gaeng had a passion for researching and writing historical articles for many Snohomish County publications. Several of her articles included her first-hand knowledge. She often said, “I don’t just write history, I am history.” Betty Lou Deebach was born in Yakima, Washington on January 27,1927. Her family moved west to Seattle and then in 1933 to a 10-acre chicken farm Alderwood Manor. She attended Alderwood Grade School until her family moved to Edmonds when she was in the 5th grade.

Her family lived through the Depression; a subject included in many of her writings. Betty Lou graduated from Edmonds High School in 1945, married and then became a single parent to four children. She credited her work as a legal secretary and assistant (paralegal) at a Seattle law firm to her skill of being a good researcher.

In her 40s Betty Lou remarried and for several years commercially fished in Southeast Alaska with her husband Fred Gaeng. She would eventually move to a retirement community in Lynnwood and began volunteering for the Lynnwood-Alderwood Many Heritage Association, the Edmonds Cemetery Board, the Edmonds Historical Museum, and the Sno-Isle Genealogical Society.

In 2019 Betty Lou moved to Anchorage, Alaska but still wrote about our local area. She passed away on April 17, 2023 at the age of 96. With her passing she has left her wonderful writings; this is her legacy. We have taken over 100 of her writings and had them digitized so they can be shared to those with an interest in any of her many written subjects. This project was made possible with a grant from the Snohomish County Preservation Commission.


Meadowdale: “One of the most prettily situated hamlets in Snohomish County.”

by Tiffany Villigan, 2011

The very early years

Long before you or I were here, the area that is now known as Meadowdale was nothing but lush, green forests and waterfront. If you’ve ever wandered through Lund’s Gulch or the adjoining Meadowdale County Park—following the trails that take you from civilization, through a dense forest and steep ravines, and miraculously deposit you at the clear blue waters of Puget Sound—you may be able to imagine what the area was like 200 years ago. Indeed, it would later be described as “one of the most prettily situated hamlets in Snohomish County,” and “extremely pretty [whose] views of Puget Sound are glorious.”

The region that would eventually be named “Meadowdale” stretched roughly from Continue reading


Meadowdale: “One of the most prettily situated hamlets in Snohomish County.” (part 2)

by Tiffany Villigan, 2011

Part II: Meadowdale continues to grow, and looks to satisfy the needs of its residents

By 1910, the region known as Meadowdale—bounded by current Highway 99 on the east, 180th St. SW to the south, Lake Serene to the north, and Puget Sound on the west—had grown from the uninhabited wilderness of the late 1800s and early 1900s to roughly 100 households.

With the expanding population, typical problems of a growing city began to arise, Continue reading


Seattle-Everett Interurban Railway Memories

Seattle-Everett Interurban Trolleyby Kent L. Haley, Keizer, Oregon, date unknown

The latest publication (Alderwood Clippings) was of interest to me . . . as you know, my father had his first teaching job at Alderwood Manor, I think the years 1920 and 1921.  Maybe until 1922.  I was four and a half when I first boarded that high-flying interurban car, and never got over it!  Sometimes the parlor car (the ones obtained in 1920 from the Spokane & Inland Empire) came along, and I can remember hanging over the brass railing Continue reading


Chicken Farming—The Way It Really Was—REALLY!

by Ray Pennock, June 1999

So you have all studied history and know all there is to know about the history of the chicken farms and early Alderwood Manor!  Certainly the number of chicken houses that were built, the thousands of baby chicks and their incubators are well documented.  The millions of nourishing eggs that were produced is also legendary.  And the fryers—well, no picnic could possibly be called a success without three or four ladies bringing delicious servings of fried chicken.  End of story? Continue reading


Early Doctors

by Norm Nelson, undated

In the early years of Edmonds there were two doctors, Dr. H. H. Kretzler and Dr. A.W. Schmidt.  Both of whom had a somewhat disparaging opinion of the other.  Dr. Schmidt at one time saying he didn’t see how anyone could put any trust in Dr. Kretzler, Dr. Kretzler having a somewhat similar opinion of Dr. Schmidt.  Both probably of about equal ability.

Dr. Kretzler could frequently be seen tooling his big Chrysler down Main Street, Continue reading


City Newspaper Delivered Promptly to Settler’s Homes

The following is from the 1922 Spring Edition of the Alderwood Manor Countryside newspaper.

When one stops to think that three years ago Alderwood Manor was but the beginning of a great project, and that today it has among its many other conveniences that of having the big city dailies delivered to the homes, one can in a measure guage (sic) the wonderful Alderwood Manor spirit of which every visitor speaks. The industry, and energy of the Little Landers is no better evidenced than in the new business venture of P. Wigen, a resident of subdivision 4. Continue reading


Alderwood Manor Business Memories

By Halide Lobdell Patterson

Directly across the street from Alderwood Grade School (location across from the Lynnwood Convention Center on 196th in Lynnwood) lived George Romano, who had a shoe repair shop.  In the 30’s I think most kids like me, with rapidly growing feet, had one pair of shoes at a time.  So when my leather soles wore out, I would go across the street after school and sit in Mr. Romano’s shop for whatever time it took for him to put on new soles.

Both Mother and I patronized the “Beauty Shop” once it was started Continue reading