The real Betty Crocker wasn't real at all. She was dreamed up by a flour mill executive 75 years ago. The real Betty Crocker never baked a thing in her life.
But the really real Betty Crocker lives in Salt Lake City, in a white house that often smells like fresh bread. This is the Betty Crocker who will go to the library and head straight for the cookbooks. This is the Betty Crocker who is married to Dave Crocker, has four sons and four grandchildren.Now, finally, the real Betty Crocker and the really real Betty Crocker have crossed paths. Salt Lake's Betty Crocker is one of 75 women chosen by General Mills as winners of the "Spirit of Betty Crocker" contest. Winners had to "demonstrate the characteristics of Betty Crocker" (who of course never existed).
The characteristics: enjoys cooking and baking, committed to family and friends, resourceful and creative in handling everyday tasks, involved in the community. Emily Drake of West Jordan was also chosen, from thousands of entries.
Betty Crocker (the really real one) was nominated for the contest by her niece, who lives in Michigan. Crocker didn't know a thing about it till she got a call one day from the Betty Crocker public relations people.
Six other women whose real name is Betty Crocker also were nominated, but only the Salt Lake Betty Crocker was a winner. Unlike the other Bettys, she was born the same year that the flour mill executive invented the homemaking icon. That makes them both 75.
The mill executive named the fictitious Crocker after a member of the company's board of directors; he chose "Betty" because it sounded friendly.
The icon had a signature (chosen from ones submitted by the flour mill's women employees) but no picture until 1936. This first Betty Crocker, a composite of several company employees, was meant to be motherly but ended up looking kind of dour.
Six updated versions have been introduced periodically over the years, most recently in 1986: a professional-looking Betty, "as comfortable in the board room as she was in the dining room," according to a press release. This year, to mark the 75th anniversary, there will be a new portrait, a composite of all 75 contest winners.
Salt Lake's Betty married into her famous name. She met Dave Crocker when they both worked for the Hudson dealer in Saginaw, Mich.
In 1940, two years before Dave and Betty married, surveys showed that the name Betty Crocker was known to nine out of 10 American homemakers. It must have been a sign of the times that this make-believe woman was the second best-known woman in America, following First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, according to a 1945 issue of Fortune magazine.
Salt Lake's Betty Crocker has led a less celebrated life. She served hot lunch at Canyon Rim Elementary, the school her sons attended after the Crockers moved to Salt Lake City. Later she worked at a party rental store.
But in the neighborhood, among her friends and with the congregation at Christ United Methodist Church, she has always been known for her pies and cookies and breads. She has also won 27 ribbons at the Utah State Fair, including Home Arts Sweepstakes in 1970 for her Swedish tea ring.
These days, Betty and Dave are volunteer drivers for Meals on Wheels.
As Utah winners of the Spirit of Betty Crocker contest, both Crocker and West Jordan's Emily Drake will receive $500 donations to the school of their choice. In addition, 75 Betty Crocker products will be contributed to Crossroads Urban Center and the Utah Food Bank.
Both women will also receive a red spoon diamond pin, a Betty Crocker 75th anniversary portrait and a copy of the new Betty Crocker cookbook. It's a good thing, too, because the really real Betty Crocker's old Betty Crocker cookbook has been used so much it's falling apart.