Betty Hurst Barron

Betty Jo Hurst Barron, 85, died suddenly at her home in Sweetwater, Tennessee.

Betty was born April 4, 1934 in Selmer, Tennessee to Allie and Lavara (Doll) Hurst. She grew up in Selmer and graduated from Selmer High School in 1952. Betty married her high school sweetheart Jerry Max Barron of Selmer in 1954. She attended the University of Tennessee at Martin and graduated from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville with a Bachelor of Science in Education. Betty taught English and History at Selmer High School for much of her career where she was a long-time cheerleader sponsor. Betty and her sister Anita were partners in The Honey Tree, a woman’s dress shop, in Selmer in the early 1970s.

In 1981 Betty and Jerry moved to Washington, DC where she worked with the United States Health and Human Services Department in the early childhood development office. They returned to the farm on Sulphur Springs Road in 1990. After Jerry’s death, Betty moved to Sweetwater, Tennessee to live on the farm with daughter Jennifer’s family.

Betty enjoyed watching her children show cattle and horses and working in her yard and flower gardens. After her move to Sweetwater, she worked part-time at East Tennessee Livestock Center and attended all her grandchildren’s ballgames and cattle shows. She was a volunteer at Sweetwater High School and a devoted UT Vol fan.

Betty was a lifetime member of the First Christian Church in Selmer where she taught Sunday School for many years.

She is preceded in death by beloved son, Jerry Ross Barron and husband, Jerry Max Barron; parents Allie and Lavara (Doll) Hurst and nephew Matt Barnes. Betty is survived by daughter Jennifer and husband Mark and grandchildren Virginia Leigh Houston and Ross Wesley Houston; sisters Linda Barnes (Rod) and Anita Moore (Joe Vance, deceased); nieces Dolly Jane Barnes and Lisa Weatherford; great niece Leah Thompkins; great nephew Jay Weatherford; great-great niece Lauren Franks and great-great nephew Jett Franks.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Matt Barnes Agricultural Scholarship, The University of Tennessee at Martin, Office of Development, 329 Administration Building, Martin, Tennessee 38238.