Elizabeth "Betty" Anne (Carraher) Allen, 82, of Grand Island, formerly of Wolbach, died on Thursday, May 20, 2010, at the Grand Island Veterans Home. Mrs. Allen was born on March 6, 1928, on the family farm near Spalding to Thomas and Edna (Ford) Carraher.

She married Howard Allen on Aug. 17, 1950, in Spalding. He passed on April 9, 1998.

Survivors are: sons and daughters-in-law, Michael and Paula and Allan and Barb, all of Lincoln, Robert and Penny of Arnold, James and Donna and Paul and Jeanne, all of Grand Island, Timothy of Sioux Falls, S.D., Benjamin and Patrice of Kearney and Daniel and Penny of Springhill, Fla.; daughters and sons-in-law, Linda and Gregg Wibbels of Grand Island, Patricia and Britt Harris of Greeley, Christine and Eugene Andre of Arnold, Mary Bakhit of Lincoln and Amy and Bill Walsh of Broken Arrow, Okla.; 33 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; brother and sister-in-law, Robert Patrick and Patricia Carraher of Spalding; sisters, Mary (Carraher) Todd, Margaret (Carraher) Briggs and Teresa (Carraher) Keuter, all of Columbus; sisters-in-law, Sue Carraher of Spalding and Adel Carraher of Florida; brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, Cy Nagorski of St. Paul, John and Frances Berney of Virginia Beach, Va., Marge (Allen) Mayberry of Burwell, Jacqueline Allen of Kansas City, Mo., Jim and Melda Allen of Salina, Kan., Ellamae and Darold Townsend of St. Paul, Jean (Springer) Clark of Omaha, Margie and Warren Townsend of St. Paul and Gary and Sherri Eppenbach of Omaha.

She grew up on the farm near Spalding. She was the 10th of 12 children. She loved hopscotch and going barefoot. Betty was a softball player, and it earned her the nickname "Casey at the Bat." She attended Spalding Academy and graduated in 1946.

Betty started work at the John Deere Plow Co. in Spalding, and there she met her Howard. They were married on Aug. 17, 1950, in Spalding.

After living in Spalding for a short time while Howard served in the Air Force, Howard and Betty followed road construction projects throughout Nebraska. In 1956, they settled in Wolbach, where they lived and raised their 13 children. During this time in the late 1960s, Betty worked with the Wolbach Head Start program. They moved to Arnold in 1976 and then in 1980 to Cheyenne, Wyo., where Howard retired from Consolidated Freightways in 1990. They moved back to their home in Wolbach in 1992, where they lived until Howard died in 1998.

Betty continued to live in Wolbach, and after a short period of living with several of her children, she moved into the Grand Island Veterans Home in April 2007.

Betty loved singing Irish songs, watching John Wayne movies and playing her accordion. She also did sewing for family and residents in Wolbach.

Betty was a member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Wolbach until it closed in 2004 and attended Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in St. Paul until she entered the Grand Island Veterans Home.

In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her parents; brothers and sisters-in-law, Albert and Claudia Carraher, Mike and Betty Carraher, Jim and Dortha Carraher, Paul Carraher, Dennis Carraher and Linus Carraher, who died at birth; brothers-in-law, Del Todd, Lloyd Bumgardner, Paul Briggs, Don Keuter, Edward Allen, Don Allen; and sisters-in-law, Minnie Nagorski and Paula Eppenbach; son-in-law, Mike Bakhit; and grandchildren, Heather (daughter of Jim and Donna Allen) and Justin (son of Paul and Jeanne Allen).

Published in The Grand Island Independent on 5/22/2010