Betty Jane Hamner

Betty Jane Cunningham, age 90, died in San Antonio, Texas on March 9, 2010. Betty Jane was born on October 11, 1919 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the youngest of five children and only daughter of the late William Halleck Cunningham and Ella Louisa Wagner Cunningham. Following the untimely death of her mother in 1925, Betty Jane came to San Antonio to live with her maternal aunt and uncle, the late Esta Wagner Shepherd and William P. Shepherd, who lovingly raised her. She graduated from Jefferson High School and the University of Texas, Austin, where she was a member of Chi Omega Sorority. She worked as a draftsman for U. S. Army Map Service during the latter years of World War II and later served as the first secretary of the Alamo Kiwanis Club, where she met her future husband, John Jack Taylor Hamner, Jr., who predeceased her in 1991. After their marriage, in 1950, she devoted herself to her home and her family. Betty Jane was a beautiful and charming lady who never met a stranger. She was a talented artist, voracious reader, avid Anglophile, lover of history and genealogist par excellence. She was a member of a number of patriotic and ancestral organizations including: founding member of Ol'Shavano Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Clan Cunningham of America, National Society Ladies of the Thistle, the National Huguenot Society of America, National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century, National Society Magna Charta, and a long-time member of the San Antonio Conservation Society and Laurel Heights United Methodist Church. She is survived by daughters, Susan Hamner Wylie and husband, William Wylie , of Tyler, TX and Nancy Hamner Avellar of San Antonio, TX; grandchildren, Dr. Mark and Kristen Wylie of Fort Worth, TX, Laura Wylie and Kevin Hickerson of Tyler, TX, Sarah and Louisa Avellar of San Antonio, TX to whom she was affectionately known as "Gigi", and their father, Michael Avellar; great-grandchildren, Katherine Anne and Caroline Wylie of Fort Worth, TX; brothers and sisters-in-law, Hoke I. Horne and Diana S. Hamner of San Antonio, TX and the Rev. Robert M. and Donna Hamner of Roanoke, VA, plus numerous nieces and nephews. She is also survived by her devoted caregiver, Vivian Moss. The family would like to thank Dr. Brian Winn, the 6th floor nursing staff at Metropolitan Methodist Hospital, Jerome Malek of Laurel Heights United Methodist Church, and Fr. Walter L. "Chip" Prehn, III of St. Luke's Episcopal Church for their compassion and their care during her final days. She will be sorely missed, but we rejoice that she is in the presence of God and is reunited with her family and loved ones.

MEMORIAL SERVICE

FRIDAY

MARCH 12, 2010

11:00 A.M.

LAUREL HEIGHTS UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

227 W. WOODLAWN

Reverend Jon Lowry and Reverend Walter L. Prehn, III officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Laurel Heights Methodist Church, 227 W. Woodlawn, San Antonio, TX 78212.