Mary Loveland
Daily Elk Citian

Betty Hall remembers the first few dates she and her husband, Buddy, had over 70 years ago.

"My parents owned 810 West Broadway and that's where we dated and went to school and walked up and down this street," Betty said. "He was a star basketball player and football player and I was a cheerleader."

It's quite a coincidence that they would be roaming the same neighborhood years later.

Betty and Buddy live at 722 West Broadway now, but only after Betty had lived in three other houses on the same street.

The first home was her childhood home at 810. The second was at 904 where Betty and Buddy and their children lived with her parents after returning home from out of state. The third was 1006 where the Hall family lived for 31 years.

"A lot of this was sheer accident," Betty said.

The final move came 13 years ago when their three children were well out of the house and it was time to downsize. Amazingly enough, another Broadway beauty became available just in time.

"I looked around and thought, 'If they price it like I can afford it, then I'm going to buy it,'" Betty said. "Surely enough, she priced it exactly the price that I had in mind."

Before the 1950's, five Gowdy family members lived on Broadway. 722 belonged to one of them.

In 1958, Maxine Galloway purchased the old home for her and her daughter.

"Maxine married Arthur Galloway," Betty said. "He died suddenly of a heart attack when they lived down there on Washington. So here she was left a widow and she had one child, Ellen, so she bought this Gowdy property and demolished the house."

The original home, which was estimated to have been built in the early years of the 1900's, was gone. The newer, ranch-style home was built to suit the two by Paul Peter.

"Actually, my mother was dating him when she met my daddy," Betty said. "They were real good friends. Of course my daddy was from Sayre and Sayre just had a way. Mother and daddy fell in love."

The woodwork in the home was finished by Forest King and is certainly the focus in the house. All the door ways are trimmed with wood. There are several wooden room dividers and the entire kitchen is finished with wooden cabinets.

"The woodwork in here is splendid," Betty said.

Because the home was built in the late 1950's, a bomb shelter was also included.

"The houses at this time were built with bomb shelters because this was the big nuclear scare with Russia," Betty said. "The basement is actually structural steel."

The two-bedroom and two-bathroom home turned out to be the perfect size for Betty and Buddy on their final move.

"The wonderful thing about it is all the storage place," Betty said. "Mother gave me good lessons in cram."

Their two living areas are just right to host Betty's family parties and open houses.

"We have big family dinners," Betty said. "As a matter of fact, I've had dining tables in the two living rooms and we've had 50 people for sit-down dinners."

The fireplace in the home is extra-large and the back patio is what Betty calls the selling point of the house.

Betty's ties with Broadway seem to be never-ending. Not only has she managed to keep coming back to it but now has two of her children living on the street as well.

Her son Joe D and his wife Vickie now live in the old family home at 904 and her daughter Susan and her husband Danny Storm live just across the street.

"When I grew up at 810, my best friend moved across the street with her father," Betty laughed. "Later, Susan married her younger brother. When we lived at 1006, my mother lived right there [at 904]. Yes, we did have a good time. I'd call my mother at 2 o'clock in the morning and say I needed a cup of sugar... We are all real close."

It may all be accident or it may be fate, Betty said.

Either way, she's sure there's no better place to live.