By CLAYTON PARK

Ask people in Lake City to tell you about Betty Bartholomew and they might tell you she was the long-time executive director of the Lake City Chamber of Commerce, who retired after 22 years in 1999.

Or they might tell you of her active involvement with the Lake City Task Force, a crime watch group formed several years ago by several local business leaders.

Or they might recall that from 1969-1974, Bartholomew was an award-winning editor of the old Lake City/Wedgwood Star, and for many years before that, starting from the early 1960s, she was a reporter for that now long-gone, but fondly remembered community newspaper. But those who really know Bartholomew, who turned 75 this year, well could tell you that she has been for more than that.

She is also the devoted mother of three sons and a daughter, along with one stepdaughter and two stepsons - all graduates of Nathan Hale High School, she notes - as well as a proud grandmother to several grandchildren.

She has also been a small business owner, who for many years ran a public relations and office support systems firm, and has held jobs with the Puget Sound Counseling Center and University of Washington Bureau of Governmental Research & Services.

She is an animal lover who, unlike some, doesn't view it as a conflict with her love of circuses and has been involved with such diverse groups as the Long Island Ocelot Club, King County Animal Control, Circus Fans Association of America (she is a past-president of the state chapter), Outdoor Amusement Business Association Auxiliary, Elephant Managers' Association and Woodland Park Zoological Society. She has also been a contributing writer to several trade publications, including Circus Report, The White Tops and The Backyard.

She has been involved other causes and organizations as well over the years, including the American Legion, Ballard Eagles, Lake City Western Vigilantes Sidekicks, Mark Twain Society of Literary Leaders, Washington State Press Women and National Press Women's Association. And that's just since she moved to Seattle and the United States in 1950.

Bartholomew, who was born in Mobile, Ala., but lived in Panama from the time she was six until her early 20s, has also been an exhibition diver and synchronized swimmer, a stage actress both in high school and college, and has held jobs with the Panama Canal Company, US Army Corp. of Engineers and Civil Intelligence Division (Caribbean Command).

Bartholomew, whose name at birth was Elizabeth Gaines, moved with her family to Panama when her father, a former furniture store owner who lost his business, took a job working as a supervisor on the Panama Canal.

"I entered kindergarten down there and learned some Spanish in school, but the majority I picked up from the natives who taught me to speak 'Bush Spanish,'" recalls Bartholomew. "It was a great place to grow up," Bartholomew says of Panama. "It was a beautiful, tropical place where you could go swimming every day of the year."

In high school, Bartholomew's love of the water led her to join an aqua ballet troupe called "Daughters of Balboa," which put on diving and synchronized swimming exhibitions. Balboa was a Spanish conquistador, for whom both the city she lived in and her school were named after.

After graduating from Balboa High School, Bartholomew attended Canal Zone Junior College where she earned an associate arts degree and went on to do post-graduate studies in communications, dramatic arts and journalism. She married a classmate who was also studying drama.

In 1950, she and her then-husband moved to Seattle so he could study at the University of Washington under legendary acting instructor Glenn Hughes. "The plan was for my husband to get a degree and return to Panama to teach drama," Bartholomew recalls.

Fate had a different plan for Bartholomew. The couple decided to remain in Seattle after her then-husband got a job as a cook in a University District restaurant.

Bartholomew, in the meantime, got hired as a secretary at the UW and continued to work there until she started having children. The couple bought a house in the Pinehurst neighborhood, but got divorced after a few years.

Bartholomew remarried and moved to the nearby Meadowbrook neighborhood, where she has lived for some 40 years now.

In the early 1960s, with her children now old enough to attend school, she reentered the work force, taking a job as a reporter for the Star. She became editor in 1969, succeeding her friend, Cathie Morse, who decided to leave the paper.

"We covered everything from the smallest meeting to the biggest events," Bartholomew recalls. "Back in the '60s, Lake City was a much more close-knit community. You had a lot more people who owned their own shops and not so many absentee landlords."

One of the controversies Bartholomew covered for the Star was the community's fight to prevent the City from taking away an aid car that the Lake City Lions Club had purchased and donated to the City for use in the area. A lawsuit was filed, which attracted citywide attention. Bartholomew represented Lake City in a televised debate with Seattle's then-mayor, Charles Royer.

In 1977, Bartholomew agreed to take the job as executive director of the Chamber, but wasn't told until after she had started that one of her new duties would be organizing the annual Lake City Pioneer Days Festival.

"Thank goodness for the Lake City Vigilantes and Eugene Henderson (the late long-time owner of Lake City Florist)," says Bartholomew. She credits them with helping her put on a successful festival that year.

A highlight for Bartholomew came a few years later when she persuaded veteran character actor Parley Baer, whom she met through a mutual friend, to be grand marshal of the Lake City Parade. Baer had supporting roles on TV's "Ozzie and Harriet Show," where he played a neighbor, and "Andy Griffith Show," where he played the mayor. He was also the original voice of Chester on the "Gunsmoke" radio show and original voice of the Keebler Elf.

Bartholomew's involvement with Circus Fans Association of America led to her forming a friendship with another actor, Robert Forrester (star of the movie "Jackie Brown"). Forrester is the son of an elephant trainer.

Her love of animals inspired her daughter, Gina Prosser, to become a handler of exotic animals for several years. Prosser now works as a bookkeeper.

Bartholomew retired from the Chamber in 1999, but continued to volunteer her time in helping to put on the Pioneer Days Festival up until last year.

In recognition of her years of community service, Bartholomew has received numerous honors, including awards from the Lake City Elks, Rotary, Lions, Vigilantes and Chamber, as well as the American Legion, Civil Air Patrol and Veterans of Foreign Wars. She has also received letters of commendation from several U.S. Senators, a Congressman and Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman.

Panama's loss has been Lake City's gain.