Age is just a number and Betty is just a vibe

THE 15 women are all named Betty, so when they gather, they call each other by their last names as if they’re on a sports team: Krueger, Mehmen, Bittfield. The average age of the women is 85, and one member is 102.

- THE WASHINGTON POST

They are the Original Betty Club, a social group founded in 1994 in Hastings, Nebraska, by Betty Krueger. There is only one requirement to join the club.

“Either you're named Betty, or you go by the name Betty,” said Krueger, who is 99.

Krueger got the idea to start the club after hearing a radio story about a similar group in California. Having recently retired as a social worker, she had free time, and “it just seemed like a fun thing to do,” she said.

But she hesitated, unsure if others would be interested in joining her Betty club.

“I pondered for three years before I had the courage to put an ad in the paper,” Krueger said.

When she finally took out a notice in the Hastings Tribune, letters from local Bettys poured into the post office box she had set up. The Betty Club was born.

“I was just so thrilled with the response of these Bettys, and we went from there,” said Krueger, noting that 11 Bettys attended their first meeting.

Over the past 31 years, the club has congregated four times a year, growing to 25 members at one point.

The club is open to Bettys of all ages, though the name is much less common among younger generations. The name Betty - typically short for Elizabeth - peaked in popularity in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Notable Bettys include former first lady Betty Ford, born in 1918, and actress Betty White, born in 1922.