Betty Aileen Hood Lynn was born to be a mother, says her husband Thomas Jackson Lynn. On cold days, she’d wrap her coat around her daughters, Christy and Jenny, as they stood waiting for the bus in Mint Hill.
She’d leave notes and poems in Christy’s lunches.
Jenny used to fake being sick to be home with her mom.
Daughter of the late Arthur Clifton Hood and Ismay McCracken Hood, Betty grew up in Sanford, NC with her twin brother Col. (Ret.) Robert M. Hood and their older brother, Arthur Clifton Hood, Jr., who say Betty cared so much for people and put others ahead of herself all her life.
Betty graduated from Sanford Central High in 1960 and was named Most Athletic Girl. She loved sports – especially watching the Charlotte Checkers. She attended nearly every home game, where she rang her cowbell and cheered for the team. She was such a “superfan” Chubby Checker even offered to stop by the hospital.
An athlete and a scholar, Betty graduated Greensboro College with honors – Summa Cum Laude. She met the love of her life, Tom, and was married September 6, 1974. They poured their love into raising their two daughters - Christy Lynn Kaliner, wife of Pete Kaliner, and Jenny Lynn Hatley, wife of Shawn Hatley.
Betty battled and beat cancer four times, was an original member of the Blair Road United Methodist Church handbell choir, and loved working with kids in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School system for the better part of three decades.
Betty loved gardening, and the annual trips to the beach with her family. And she loved her grandsons – Blake and Eli, sons of Jenny and Shawn Hatley of Oakboro. Easter Sunday she played soccer with them, despite fighting cancer one again.
She will be greatly missed and fondly remembered. Jenny said, “We weren’t done learning. We weren’t done talking.”
Visitation will be held at McEwen Funeral Service-Mint Hill Chapel from 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 30, 2013. The funeral will be held Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. at Blair Road United Methodist Church, with interment to follow at Sunset Memory Gardens in Mint Hill.
Condolences may be offered at www.mcewenminthillchapel.com.
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