Betty Eugenia Black

Betty Eugenia Black (Schroeder), a resident of Mountain Rest, South Carolina, died of cancer on December 7, 2010 at the John Keever Solace Center in Asheville, North Carolina, surrounded by her family. A small memorial service, with military honors, will be held at Parklawn Memorial Park in Hampton, Virginia on December 19, 2010. She will be buried adjacent to the father of her children, Arnold M. Schroeder.

Betty Black was born February 3, 1931 in Atlanta, Georgia. She was the second daughter of Ebb Burt Black, an attorney, and his wife, Canola Worley, and grew up in Boaz, Alabama where she graduated from high school. After attending Snead College for two years, Betty joined the United States Air Force in 1949 at the age of 18. She met Arnold M. Schroeder while working in Nebraska at the Global Weather Central at Offutt AFB. They married on October 25, 1951 and after the birth of her first child, she retired from the Air Force and completed a degree in Political Science at the University of Maryland. They had three children and spent many years living in Hampton, Virginia.

Betty remarried in 1981 to George Gulick and moved to St. Croix where George had lived for some years. In 1990, Betty was hired by the CIA and moved from St. Croix to Washington, D.C., where she would work for the next thirteen years. She was the oldest hire at the CIA to date, commencing at the age of sixty-two. Upon retiring from the CIA in 2003, she moved to Mountain Rest, South Carolina with her beloved dog, Sadko.

Betty led an active life and was a devoted dog lover. She enjoyed playing tennis, listening to piano music, and the out-of-doors. She loved air planes, drinking wine, and travel. She was very proud of her years in the Air Force and was amongst the first to join the WAF (Women in the Air Force) which was established 1948.

She is survived by her three children, Jennifer Schroeder Johnson of Cincinnati; Dr. Tarina Mendes, of Seneca, South Carolina; and Kim F. (Skip) Schroeder, of Poquoson, Virginia, their spouses: Fred Johnson, Dr. Michael Mendes, and Debbie Schroeder She is also survived by seven grandchildren: F. Spencer Johnson, Blaine Johnson, Genevieve Mendes Weaver, Michael Mendes, Brenton Schroeder, and Chris Sherman and Tara Baass. She has one surviving sibling, Ann Cannington, in Macon, Georgia and her five children: Greg Cannington, Carol Gray, Patti Hill, Nancy Burk, and Mary Catherine. She is also survived by her step-children, Cheryl Gulick, of Grand Junction, Colorado, Susan Tice of Telluride, Colorado, and Peter Gulick of Branford, Connecticut.

Friends are invited to gather Sunday, Dec. 19 from 11 to 11:45 a.m. at Parklawn-Wood Funeral Home. Interment will follow at 12 p.m. in Parklawn Memorial Park in Hampton (unless due to inclement weather committal will take place in the funeral home).

Memorials or donations may be made to a local animal shelter of your choice.

Friends are encouraged to visit www.parklawn-woodfh.com to share memories and words of condolence with the family.

Arrangements are under the care of Parklawn-Wood Funeral Home, 2551 N. Armistead Ave. in Hampton, 23666.