'Once you’ve dealt with bees, it gets in your blood'

OTHELLO — Barbara Caylor said her late husband, Ken Caylor, was the kind of guy who didn’t have much time for leisure.  

“He was interested in being involved in something to keep him busy,” Barbara said. “He was a man who never sat around idle very long – he was always doing something.” 

And, said their friend Cathy Carlton, whatever Ken was doing, Barbara was there. 

“One of the things I really admired about her was, everywhere Ken went – and he went everywhere – she was right there with him,” Carlton said.  

Ken was an Othello High School graduate, almost an Othello native – he came to town when he was 10 years of age. Barbara came to Othello as a teenager. 

They married and started a business but moved to the Puget Sound area when an entirely new opportunity beckoned. They always came back to Othello, though – in part because they still had that business. 

“Our bees were over here, our honeybees,” Barbara said. “We always came over here every weekend, or every other weekend, to see my parents, and his mother was here at the time. And we would come over to visit and work the bees.” 

Ken was a beekeeper most of his life; it was his first career, and he returned to it after retiring in 1993 and moving back to Othello. 

“We had the honey store. We sold bee equipment and bee supplies, and we also sold the honey. We processed it down there in the building.” she said.  

The store was on Othello’s Main Street, known as Caylor’s Blue Ribbon Honey. 

“He was still a beekeeper up until he died. He loved his bees,” Barbara said. “I was scared to death of them when I first met him, but it didn’t take me long to get used to them. I couldn’t imagine marrying a beekeeper, but I did.”

The Caylors had one of the biggest bee operations on the east side of the state when they started their company in the early 1960s, she said. The career change into construction took them to Puget Sound in 1966.  

“Then he had health problems, and we had to come back to Othello. Our bees were over here anyway, so we moved to get back into the bee business full-time, as a retirement thing,” Barbara said. “But it’s hard work.” 

The business filled part of the time, but Ken and Barbara found other things to do. Ken was on the Othello City Council for about eight years, she said, and on the Adams County Development Council. 

“Ken was the driving force for the (Othello) centennial celebration in 2010,” she said.  

The Caylors were volunteers at the Sandhill Crane Festival and Ken was on the board.  

“We were both board members of the Othello Community Museum. And I was the one that suggested the museum open up during the Sandhill Crane Festival because it was closed all the time,” Barbara said. “And I thought, ‘Well, the festival is a big deal, why not open the museum for people to see it?’ So that’s what we did. And then I kept it open on Saturdays for many, many years.”

They took their business to the Othello Fair every year, running three booths, she said. They were active politically as members of the Adams County Democrats.  

“He was in the beginning of the Coulee Corridor National Scenic byway that runs from Othello to Omak. He was chairman for many years, I was treasurer for many years,” Barbara said.  

They did most things together, she said. 

“We were a couple. Very seldom did people see us separately,” she said.

There was a lot to do, but that was a good thing. 

“We were always moving around, going to meetings and things,” she said. “You got to see a lot of people. Ken loved visiting with people that had common (interests) and things going on.” 

Ken died last year, and Barbara is moving to be closer to her children. She’s not done with bees, though. 

“Ken always had the saying, once you’ve dealt with bees, it gets in your blood, and you can’t get it out. And he was right because I feel the same way. I’m going to keep a couple of hives with my older boy,” she said.