Betty Jean (Underwood) Berg (1927 - 2019)

Born 1 Jan 1927 in Paw Creek, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Daughter of Ralph Sidney Underwood and Beatrice Reamer (Neal) Underwood

Wife of Robert Lynn Berg — married 26 Feb 2000 in Brevard, Transylvania County, North Carolina, United States

Descendants

Died 14 Dec 2019 at age 92 in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States

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Biography

Betty (Underwood) Berg was born in North Carolina.

Betty Jean Underwood was born on January 01, 1927 in the home of her parents, the home built by both of her grandfathers, in Paw Creek, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, United States.^[1] Her parents were Ralph Underwood and Beatrice Neal. Her parental grandparents were Confederate veteran Jacob Sidney "Sid" Underwood and Esther Cathey "Hettie" Lawing. Her maternal grandparents were George James Luther Neal and Lundy Eugenia Beaty, both children of Confederate veterans.

The descendant of many of the earliest settlers of the Catawba River Valley, comprising present day Mecklenburg, Gaston, Lincoln, and Catawba counties, Betty could count four Patriots and two Loyalists as ancestors, as well as four Confederate veterans in her direct line.

Betty grew up in the Paw Creek section of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, on the farm of her parents, Ralph and Reamer Underwood. The farm and home had been established by Betty's mother's parents. She attended the First Baptist Church in Mount Holly for several decades where her parents were members. She attended Kendall Elementary School and Paw Creek High School with many classmates who were related in some degree to her. Betty was on the 1942 Mecklenburg County Basketball Championship team while at Paw Creek.

She graduated from Women's College (now the University of North Carolina - Greensboro). In the early 1960s, she graduated from Appalachian State University with a masters degree in education.

Betty was a teacher in Gaston and Mecklenburg County schools for 31+ years. She was a first grade teacher at Mt. Holly Elementary and Long Creek Elementary schools. It was while a teacher at Long Creek that she met her future husband, Carl B. Sheppard.

She married Carl on April 28, 1951 at the First Baptist Church of Mount Holly, Gaston County, North Carolina.^[2] Officiating was Betty’s cousin, the Reverend John Sherman Farrar.

Betty and Carl first settled in Mount Holly, but about 1955 bought a two acre portion of her parents land in Paw Creek. There Betty working as an educator and Carl as a cotton agent would raise three boys.

After 31 years in education, Betty, retired to take care of her husband, Carl, as he had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. When her husband required more care than could be given at home, he was moved to a nursing home (1984), and Betty sold the home where they had lived for approximately 30 years.

Upon Carl's death in 1991, Betty married her dear friend, William Andrew "Bill" Keyser at Providence Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. The following year, they moved to Connestee Falls, a community near Brevard, North Carolina. They joined the First Methodist Church in Brevard where they were faithful members. Betty was widowed again when, after a few years of battling illness, Bill died suddenly in 1998.

In February of 2000, Betty married Robert Lynn Berg at the First Methodist Church in Brevard where they had met. Together, they built a beautiful home in Windover Farms outside of Brevard. From there, they traveled the world, and Betty joined a book club and the local country club where she exercised (usually) three times a week until shortly before her death.

On Friday, 13 December 2019, Betty fell at home and struck her head. She felt well enough to go for an appointment, but during the return trip began to have a headache. Her husband transported her to the local hospital from which she was transferred to one in Asheville. Before she reached the second hospital, Betty went into a coma from which she never recovered. The decision was made to end life-saving measures, and Betty died the following morning at 1:30 a.m.

Betty was buried between her first two husbands at the Forest Lawn West Cemetery. The Rev. Elliott Hipp, Betty's second cousin once removed officiated. A memorial service was held a the Fist Methodist Church in Brevard on what would have been her 93rd birthday, 4 January 2020 with her pastor presiding. Her middle son spoke the eulogy.

Obituary

Betty Underwood Berg, beloved wife, mother, and grandmother, passed away early in the morning of 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 (BS), and Appalachian State University (MEd). She taught in Gaston and Mecklenburg County 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 Bill Keyser in 1991 and moved with him to Transylvania County, living in Connestee Falls until his death in 1999. Her third husband, Robert L. 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 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, she 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 with differing modes of travel, and she found 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, and her grandchildren. 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.

Betty was buried on 21 December 2019, at the Forest Lawn West Cemetery in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her cousin, the Rev. Elliott Hipp of the Paw Creek Presbyterian Church, officiating. She was buried in the same plot as her first two husbands and her parents. Nearby are buried her brother, Ralph and his wife Harriett, and her grandparents, Luther and Lundy Neal, and aunts and uncles.

A memorial service was held on 4 January 2020 (what would have been her 93rd birthday) at the First Methodist Church of Brevard, North Carolina, with the Reverend Mike Holder officiating.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Birth Index, 1865-2012 [1]
2. ↑ North Carolina, Marriage Records, 1741-2011, [2]
3. ↑ Obituary written by Pippin Sheppard for the Transylvania (North Carolina) Times, modified for this profile.

• Paternal and Maternal relationships are both confirmed by an autosomal 23andMe test match between Pip Sheppard and Jo Ann (Jolly) Sizer, his 3rd cousin . Their most-recent common ancestors are Jacob Underwood and Elizabeth Moore, the great great grandparents of both Pip Sheppard and Jo Ann (Jolly) Sizer. Predicted relationship from 23andMe: Third cousins, based on sharing 72 cM (0.96% DNA shared) across 2 segments.

• Personal knowledge of son, Pip Sheppard

• 1930 Federal Census of Paw Creek, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Image at: https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/6224/4608302_00585?pid=76160516

• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KW3R-V2Y : 28 July 2019), Betty J Underwood in household of Ralph S Underwood, Township 12 Paw Creek, Mecklenburg, North Carolina, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 60-103B, sheet 16B, line 41, family 264, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2945.