Meet the Neighbor: Betty V: The lady knows how to cook

By Sonny Turner
sonny@athensnews-courier.com

January 15, 2008 09:37 pm

— The license plate on the back of her car reads “Betty V,” a name thousands of Limestone County residents easily recognizes.
The “V” she says doesn’t really mean or stand for anything although she’s been called that for years. But to some, like Limestone County District 4 Commissioner Bill Daws, it means a good meal.
Betty V, whose real name is Betty Lanham, is known for her cooking.
“It’s just real good country cooking like grandma used to cook,” said Daws. “The way it’s seasoned and flavored, it’s out of this world.”
Betty, who along with husband Dennis, lives on a farm in the Lentzville Community at Hickory Hills and grew up in Limestone County just north of Elkmont. She left for a time to work on a riverboat based out of Puducah, Ky. She was the only lady on the towboat and she was the cook as they traveled the waters from St. Paul, Minn., to Corpus Christie, Texas.
“I just love to cook,” she said. “I like to feed people. It is so hard to get a good meal today.”
She said a lot of her taste comes from her mother, the late Lela Kimbrough.
“She was a good cook, and back then you didn’t know what a restaurant was. You ate at home. I see myself cooking and tasting like she did.”
Betty and Dennis met on the riverboat where they both worked; she was the cook and he was the boat engineer. They fell in love and later married.
“We worked 28 days on and 28 days off,” she said. “I worked on that boat for 20 years and those men treated me like royalty. I was highly respected because they believed you did not mistreat the cook. They let me cook whatever I wanted and they loved it.”
Betty said she’s always been involved in food in some capacity.
While living in Michigan, she worked as a meat wrapper at a big chain grocery and from that job she learned lots of tricks in the meat business.
“The different cuts in meat make a big difference,” she said. “You can tell how good it’s going to be from the cut.”
After the towboat job, Betty moved back to Limestone County in 1991 and opened a restaurant, which she says was her best project.
It was called Betty V’s Pizza, and even though it was way out in the country on Baker Hill Road, she said people came from far and near to taste her pizza.
“That’s when I became known as Betty V,” she said. “I had a lot of people to come out and eat with me.”
Now retired, she still cooks for friends and neighbors.
“I just get hungry to cook,” she said with a smile. “It used to be every time it snowed, I got the urge to cook. I still like for people to come to my house by the big groups. I want them to come and eat dinner.”
Daws said he visits the Lanham home quite often and every time he does, he eats at her table.
The commissioner said he heard she was thinking about moving from his district to District 1, which is Commissioner Gary Daly’s district.
“We want to keep her right here,” Daws said. “She always cooks Christmas dinner for our employees and that’s hard to give up.”
He then presented her with a plaque that read, “In appreciation of the best country cooking anywhere.” It was signed by the District 4 crew.
“I’ve always taken a lot of pride in my cooking,” she said. “I never put something on the table that I wasn’t proud of.”
Betty is also known for her “ugly looking” cakes, but she said people must like them because they always come back for more.
“They may be ugly, but they are good, real good,” said Daws. “She makes some of the best desserts you will ever taste.”

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