Friends of the Elk Grove Library

SCC Friends of the Elk Grove Library Scholarship
SCC Olga Batey Memorial Scholarship

This scholarship is named for the founder of Friends of the Elk Grove Library, Olga Mary Popovich Batey. Olga was born in Mountain View, California in 1924 and enjoyed a happy childhood on her family’s ranch with her parents and siblings, picking cherries and walnuts, and cutting apricots in the Summer. Her true love, however, was singing and dancing. After meeting her future husband Bob Batey at a folk dance class in Mountain View, the two got married, moved to Elk Grove and had four children. Their love of dancing caused them to begin a folk dance club, which morphed into a singing and dancing review named Hester Skelter. Parents and children produced a show of skits and a barbershop quartet that filled the Elk Grove Hight School auditorium. Olga then began an active community and political life including being a member of the Elk Grove Mother’s Club, the Elk Grove Western Festival and founder of Friends of the Elk Grove Library. She was also a member of the South County Democratic Club, Elk Grove Book Club, a Girl Scout Leader, a Sunday School teacher and choir member at the Elk Grove Methodist Church and Elk Grove Historical Society. In 1964 she ran for and won a seat on the Elk Grove Unified School District Board, becoming the first woman to do so. In 1967 she returned to teaching at Joseph Kerr Middle School. Olga was honored for all of her activities in 1993 by being named Citizen of the Year and then Honorary Grand Marshall of the Elk Grove Western Festival Parade in 1994. After retiring Olga and her husband enjoyed years of backpacking adventures in the Southern Sierras and traveling the world. Olga passed away in 2017 at the age of 93, and Friends of the Elk Grove Library created this scholarship in her honor.