Eve Carty: Triple Threat

Eve Carty, who’s been working for us for 25 years, is the kind of woman who does everything well. She holds down three jobs—as the snack bar lady at The Clyde three nights a week, as well as working days as the Program Associate at the Langley United Methodist Church and a clerk at Casey’s Crafts. “Luckily I love all my jobs,” Eve says. Eve’s computer skills also make her the one who often covers social media for Lynn when she’s on vacation.

She was recruited to work at The Clyde by former snack bar lady (and current ticket-seller) Emily Schmidt when we added Wednesday and Thursday nights to our schedule. “I was at coffee time at the Methodist Church two months after my second daughter was born and said something to Emily about needing to get a part-time job. She knew I had worked as an engineering technician and thought I’d be good at adding in my head,” she says. (The nearly lost art of mental calculation is a key job skill at The Clyde.).

Eve’s current jobs are a far cry from her former employment on a fish farm on Lopez Island back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. “I’m a commercial fisherman’s daughter, so that was possibly a conflict of interest!” she says. “The fish plant closed in 1982 or ’83, and I didn’t really want my oldest daughter to grow up on Lopez and graduate from high school in a class of 13 like I did. So I moved to Whidbey.”

Eve and her husband Jeff have three grown daughters, Erin, Noelle, and Anna. She was a Girl Scout leader for many years, a school volunteer, and a Sunday-school teacher. She was active in the early days of the Back to School program and the Good Cheer garden, but with three jobs hasn’t got a lot of free time for community work right now. (“Does working at a church count for anything?” she asks.)

Eve loves movies, and can watch her favorites two or three times. “And of course I love seeing all the people—especially our regulars. When I was home all day with little kids working at The Clyde was my one adult outlet. Also I really like candy!” If you come to The Clyde often enough, Eve or her compadre Mindy will know your order and have it started before you finish saying it.