Betty Glenn talks with new SCCC Alumni Coordinator Wendy Sanchez at the Saturday event.
Betty Glenn is not only an alumna from the very first graduating class in 1971, but a longtime SCCC employee who helped shape the campus culture we call “The Seward County Way.” It’s a lifestyle marked by loyalty, service to others, and unselfishly going the extra mile for our students. One great example of these qualities in Betty’s life is the way she kept coming back to campus after she retired to sponsor a club for students.
Coming to Seward was a no-brainer for the young Betty Glenn. Even though she had started college near her family home at Black Hills State in South Dakota, Betty had a fiancé from Southwest Kansas — Richard Glenn, whose family operated a custom-cutting service from Texas to North Dakota. Conveniently for Betty, a new two-year college had just opened in Liberal, Kansas.
She planned to complete a bachelor’s degree at Oklahoma Panhandle State and become a math teacher, but when the Glenns welcomed a son, Rick, and then a daughter, Terri, Betty put her plans to the side until the children could start their own education. When finances grew tight in 1979, Betty found a job at her alma mater, bookkeeping and assisting in financial aid.
Keep in mind, this was the time of carbon copies and paper filing, far more time consuming and laborious than the office work of today. But Betty stuck with Seward, and soon computers arrived, along with other forms of “brand new technology” that changed everything. With the help of fellow employees Mark Merrihew and Tommy Williams,
Betty helped set up Seward’s version of a unified accounting system that all Kansas community colleges adopted. We still use those fund and account codes today.
She enjoyed watching the college grow, from its early days at Epworth and the nearby. High school, to the new buildings, dorms, sports facilities and athletic teams. By the time she retired in 2011, Betty had worked in many departments on campus, from payroll to payables to financial aid. She had built the Campus Messengers for Christ club into a robust group of students from all parts of campus.
With her husband, Betty had also raised two children who opted to attend SCCC. Betty says it was a natural fit, since they had spent many hours with their mother when she worked weekends or evenings, and enjoyed the swimming pool every summer. It was “kind of neat,” she recalled, to feel your children were welcome, and to interact with coworkers and students in an atmosphere that felt a lot like family.
The Seward family of 2019 expresses our appreciation to Betty, who truly helped put systems and a campus culture in place that we still rely on today. We are so glad you didn’t go teach math, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Categories: 50th Anniversary, Hall of Saints
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