Bettie Vann Sharpe

Bettie Henley Vann Sharpe died on Friday, August 9, 2013, at the Oaks at Mayview. Mrs. Sharpe was born on July 16, 1922, in Franklinton, NC. She was the youngest child of the late Aldridge Henley Vann and Elizabeth Dixon Vann. She was educated at St. Mary’s in Raleigh, received her B.A. at Converse College in Spartanburg, SC, and did additional work at what was then the Women’s College in Greensboro, NC, now UNC-G. For many years she taught third grade in Raleigh, first at Myrtle Underwood and then at Aldert Root. Summers found her working at the Avalon Hotel in Virginia Beach, VA.

In the mid-1960s Mrs. Sharpe began working at Hudson-Belk. She eventually became Group Sales Manager of Ladies’ Ready to Wear. When she was ready for a change, but not ready to retire, she moved to china and silver, where she had a grand time helping brides from Raleigh and all over North Carolina.

On May 11, 1973, she and Frederick Franklin Sharpe were married at Hayes Barton United Methodist Church in Raleigh. They had met at a Greensboro USO during World War II, then went their separate ways. Nearly 30 years later they became reacquainted and married. Mr. Sharpe died in 1985.

Bettie, or “B” as she was known to so many of her friends and relatives, loved to garden, play bridge, and travel. She especially loved seeing her nieces and their children. It was a source of happiness to her that several lived nearby so that she knew not only her “greats,” but also two great-great nephews. Former students visited her regularly, and brought their children and sometimes even their grandchildren for her to meet. In December of 2011 she moved from Whitaker Glen to Mayview.

Mrs. Sharpe was predeceased by her husband, her parents, and her three sisters Sarah Vann Peoples, Frances Vann, and Beverly Vann Gilliam. She is survived by five nieces: Elizabeth Gilliam Tyler and her husband Fielding of Virginia Beach, VA; Olivia Gilliam Randolph and her husband Malcolm of Richmond, VA, and their children and grandchildren; Sarah Peoples Whitmore and her husband Alan of Chapel Hill, NC; Frances Gilliam Fontaine and her husband Jim of Raleigh, NC, and her children and grandchildren; and Josephine Peoples Dickson and her husband Warren of Fearrington Village, NC.

Her family would especially like to thank Rethea Egbunine, who gave Bettie the most loving care imaginable for five years. They would also like to thank the staffs at Whitaker Glen and Mayview, and Hospice of Wake County, Inc., who were unfailingly kind, helpful and considerate.

Services will be held on Friday, August 16, at 10:30 a.m. at Fair View Cemetery in Franklinton, NC, and at 2:00 p.m. at Hayes Barton United Methodist Church, 2209 Fairview Road, Raleigh, NC, 27608.

The family requests no flowers. Memorials in Mrs. Sharpe’s memory may be made to Hayes Barton United Methodist Church in Raleigh, or to Hospice of Wake County, Inc., 250 Hospice Circle, Raleigh, NC, 27607.

Arrangements are by Brown-Wynne, 300 St. Mary’s Street, Raleigh.