Sarah Jayne Hood

On the quiet spring morning of Friday, April 11, 2025, Jayne Driver Hood, beloved mother, teacher, dog enthusiast, and avid traveler passed away peacefully in Centerville, Ohio. She was 92 years old.

Sarah Jayne Driver was born in Memphis, Tennessee to Pearl and Daniel Driver on July 27, 1932. While Memphis was her birth home, due to her father’s business she spent her early childhood in the Long Island hamlet of Baldwin, New York and the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, before her family finally settled in Louisville, Kentucky in 1942.

After graduating from J.M. Atherton High School for Girls, Jayne attended the University of Kentucky before transferring to Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky. There, she was an active member of the Sigma Kappa sorority and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree. It was also at Georgetown where she met the love of her life, Joseph (Joe) Hood, Sr. The couple married following their graduation on March 5th, 1955, in Louisville, Kentucky; and were together for 66 years, until Joe’s passing in 2021.

In 1962, Jayne moved to Centerville, Ohio for Joe’s work at Wright Patterson Airforce Base. While raising their three children, Jayne continued her pursuit for a teaching degree and certification at Wright State University’s teaching program in 1971. Over the next two years, she juggled family life, schoolwork, and student teaching to achieve her goal. Her first official teaching position began in 1974 at Driscoll Elementary School where she taught fourth grade, until Joe’s work relocated the family to Washington, DC in the summer of 1978.

Yet it was in Washington, DC where Jayne’s teaching career flourished. She secured a position at the prestigious St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School in Washington, DC., where she taught sixth grade that included the children of Senators, Congressmen, diplomats, and other well-known Washington families. During her tenure, St. Patrick’s became widely known as a school with an exceptional program and highly regarded curriculum. To further strengthen her teaching credentials, Jayne attended night school at Georgetown University to secure certification to teach Latin. It is also at Georgetown where she took home a Belgian bouvier mix puppy from students who had found the poor dog in their dorm hallway. A devoted dog person, this would be the first of many dogs Jayne took in – including three rescued Greyhounds.

In the early 1990s, Jayne joined the faculty at a new and growing educational institution - the Washington Episcopal School (WES) in Bethesda, Maryland. At WES she continued educating sixth graders, as well as teaching several Latin Classes each week. With her deep knowledge and love of Greek and Roman mythology, Jayne led WES’ annual study trip program to Italy – a monumental task shepherding 6th and 7th grade students, chaperones, and faculty from Rome, along the Apian Way, down the coast to Pompei and back.

Jayne retired from teaching in 2006 after 30 years as an educator. She was acknowledged by the WES’ St. George’s Society, which recognizes faculty for their dedication and commitment in the founding of the school. As a group of parents wrote to her, “Our children’s sixth grade year was an appropriate finale to their years at WES. You engendered their love of learning, respect for themselves and for each other; and given them a great start in life.”

In addition to being a well-loved educator, Jayne was an avid world traveler. She explored world-renown cities, including St. Petersburg, Budapest, Florence, Paris, Dublin, Istanbul, Lisbon, and London. She cruised along the Nile River and Mediterranean coast, enjoyed many European river cruises, and took part in the U.S. Road Scholar travel programs. She and Joe also attended various arts festivals, including the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia, and the Santa Fe Opera and Chamber Music Festival.

Jayne is preceded in death by her husband, Joe and her older brother, Daniel H. Driver, Jr. She is survived by her sons and their wives, Joseph Jr. and Janet Hood; Dan and Barbara Hood; her daughter and her husband, Sarah and William Delea; as well as a niece Elizabeth H. Neighborgall, five grandchildren – Jessica, Ricky, Stephen, Liz, and Mick; and seven great-grandchildren.

A memorial service to remember and celebrate Jayne’s life is scheduled for Saturday, June 7th at the Fairmont Presbyterian Church in Kettering, Ohio at 11:30 a.m. Jayne held a strong belief that hungry children cannot learn. As such, the family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made on Jayne’s behalf to the Dayton Food Bank.