Welcome to the Weekend Chat, my fellow WikiChatterers. And greetings from Cathey’s Creek. I apologize for all-of-a-sudden not responding to your comments last week beginning on Friday evening. Here is the reason:
Brevard - Betty Underwood Berg, beloved wife, mother, and grandmother, passed away early in the morning of Saturday, December 14, 2019, at Mission Hospital in Asheville.
Betty was born on January 4, 1927 in Paw Creek, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, the daughter of the late Ralph Sidney and Reamer Neal Underwood. She was predeceased by her first husband, Carl B. Sheppard, and her second husband, William A. Keyser, and all of her siblings, Mildred Davis, Ralph Underwood, Jr., Doris Groover, and Laura Coggins.
Betty graduated from Paw Creek High School, Women’s College of the University of North Carolina (BS), and Appalachian State University (MEd). She taught in Gaston and Mecklenburg Counties for 31 years, taking some time off to begin a family with her husband Carl, and retiring in 1984 shortly after Carl was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. They were married for 39 years. Betty married secondly her dear friend Bill Keyser in 1991 and moved with him to Transylvania County, living in Connestee Falls until his death in 1998. Her third husband, Robert L. “Bob” Berg, she claimed as the love of her life. His kindness, tenderness, and the attentiveness shown to her were noted by all those who knew them. They would have been married 20 years this coming February.
A quilter, Betty used her sewing skills to create masterpieces which won her awards and which she freely gave away to sons, grandchildren and nieces and nephews, often supplying baby quilts for new arrivals in the family. Due to recent illness, Betty was unable to complete a particularly beautiful and intricate quilt on which she had worked for two years. A world traveler, Betty had a map in her sewing room that became a pin cushion over the years, and she filled albums with photos of her trips. She loved finding new places to visit, and she discovered that Bob was the perfect travel partner.
Betty was devoted to her three sons to whom she was a trusted adviser and defender. She always loved a family gathering, particularly with her sons who loved her as she loved them. The home she created with Bob was a warm and inviting place that was open for her sons, their wives and children, and her extended family, including her two step-daughters who she claimed as her own. She also cared deeply about her many nieces and nephews, eagerly asking for news of the events of their lives.
Betty was a consistent and faithful member of the First Methodist Church in Brevard. She rarely missed attending, serving as a greeter and reader for the church she so loved. A memorial service will be held there on her birthday, January 4, 2020, at 1 p.m.
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Mother died in on a rainy, wintry day, and for those of us who knew her, there will always be, in one corner of our hearts, a rainy, wintry space for the loss of her presence in our lives. I am leaving immediately as the burial will be tomorrow in Charlotte.
God bless you all.