Fred and Lucille Dunlap raised their children in the yellow brick house at the corner of Green Street and County Line Roads right next door to the family gas station. And that is where our story of Bette Jane Dunlap Carrothers begins. While Bette may have left New Baltimore a few times, she never strayed far.

At 22, Bette was teaching elementary music in two Utica schools. Bill Carrothers was stationed at Selfridge Air Force Base and first met Bette at the New Baltimore City Park where she was working as a lifeguard. They were engaged in 1956 and married in 1957. Bill was attending Central Michigan University, and Bette secured a music position there teaching all twelve grades. She was just a few years older than many of her students, but with English and music majors and a minor in physical education, Bette was well equipped to work with her students.

Bette taught in the music room for twenty-nine and a half years. And while she took ten years off to raise her three children, Allison, Jay and Leslie, Bette was never far from the classroom. With private lessons for music theory, voice and piano, Bette has been the choral-music inspiration for many generations.

In rain, snow and sleet Bette Carrothers leads the annual New Baltimore Christmas Tree-Lighting. She served as local coordinator for several Michigan Opera Theater Community Education Productions at Anchor Bay High School, and single—handedly collected thousands of dollars to fund music camp scholarships and field trips. She received the prestigious Michigan School Vocal Association Emeritus Choral Director Award in 1996 and was twice named Anchor Bay Public Schools teacher of the year.

Bette's "retirement" includes special care in writing the "Our Town" column for the Voice newspapers, traveling the world, and being a spectacular grandmother to her seven grandchildren. Bette also serves as choir director for the First Congregational Church and is the music director and physical education instructor for the church's summer Bible school.

Today, following an illustrious career at Anchor Bay Schools, Bette is still bringing music to the community. The New Baltimore Interfaith Choir will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2006, with Bette as the director. Besides orchestrating the ecumenical choir for the annual Ecumenical Christmas Concert, the Choir performs for the inmates at the Macomb Correctional Center, at East Harbor Village and the Meadows of Anchor Bay.

Bette has made many contributions to the greater Anchor Bay community. To honor her, in 2006, the Mac Fund, administered by the Foundation, provided start-up funding for the Bette Dunlap Carrothers Vocal Music Scholarship. The Anchor Bay Community Foundation hereby sings her praises and acknowledges her gifts to all who have heard her music.

Bette Carrothers (left), first official Goodwill Ambassador,
learns how to relax in front of an audience.