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![["Diane Betler was born in Pendleton County, West Virginia and came to Helvetia as a child to live with her adopted mother Margaret Koerner, an immigrant from Germany. Ms. Koerner was a skilled home cook from her Ms. Betler learned many traditional recipes. She married Kevin Betler, nephew of Eleanor Betler, and they live in the Koerner home in Helvetias Metzner Hollow where Ms. Betler was raised. She served as the principal of Pickens Elementary/High School, the public school serving children from Pickens and Helvetia. Ms. Betler makes the yeast-raised doughnuts for Helvetias Fasnacht celebration every year using Margaret Koerners recipe.This interview is part of a series of interviews conducted with foodways practitioners in Helvetia, West Virginia, as part of the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance. Learn more: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%](/image/4224BetlerDianeIntTranscript2616/0.jpg)
- Identifier:
- 4224.BetlerDiane.IntTranscript.2.6.16
- Title:
- Transcript of oral history of Diane Betler
- Date:
- 2016-02-06
- Creator:
- Betler, Diane
- Contributor:
- Hilliard, Emily
- Subject:
- Doughnuts, foodways, Food habits, Helvetia (W. Va.), Cooking, German, Carnival, Cooking, Swiss
- Location:
- Helvetia (W. Va.)
![["Eleanor Betler was born in Buckhannon, West Virginia in 1940 and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. She spent her summers in Helvetia at the farm of her maternal grandparents, James and Anna Merkli McNeal. She married Howard Bud Betler in 1961. The couple moved to a hilltop farm in Helvetia and raised four children. All the good cooks, many of them relatives of Mr. Betler taught Mrs. Betler about canning, preserving, cooking and baking. She was especially interested to learn the skills of butchering and preserving meat, and making sausage. Mrs. Betler loves the Swiss traditional baking but also Appalachian ways of some neighbors. She grinds her own flour for baking bread. At Fasnacht time she invites neighbors and friends to make the hozablatz and rosettes just to keep the tradition alive. She also preserves this history by collecting stories, music, and photographs for The Helvetia Archives.This interview is part of a series of interviews conducted with foodways practitioners in Helvetia, West Virginia, as part of the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance. Learn more: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%](/image/4224BetlerEleanorIntTranscript2516/0.jpg)
- Identifier:
- 4224.BetlerEleanor.IntTranscript.2.5.16
- Title:
- Transcript of oral history of Eleanor Betler
- Date:
- 2016-02-05
- Creator:
- Betler, Eleanor
- Contributor:
- Hilliard, Emily
- Subject:
- Bakers, Bread, Swine, Food habits, Helvetia (W. Va.), Hill farming, Corn bread, Carnival, Beef cattle, Canning and preserving, Wild leek, Orchards, Sheep farming, 4-H clubs, Cheesemaking, Dairy cattle, Swiss American women, foodways, Cooking, Swiss
- Location:
- Helvetia (W. Va.)
