Betty McMahan Hood

Betty grew up on Emoriland Boulevard in North Knoxville, born in the beautiful Spanish-Moorish house built by her father, a home that still stands today as a symbol of the family’s love for vacationing in the Florida Keys.

At 15 years old, she met the love of her life, Bill Hood, after seeing him relegated to crutches from a basketball injury. Betty saved him a “more accessible seat”… next to her… at the back of their Knoxville High School classroom, and thus started a love and a legacy that spanned 75 years, with 70 of them as man and wife.

Following their graduation in 1947, she began her studies at UT, marrying Bill at Broadway Baptist Church in 1950. The U.S. Air Force called Bill, and with one year left at UT, she boarded a train alone, traveling to live at his Air Force base in Wichita Falls, Texas…and after promising her parents she would finish her degree. True to her word, after they returned to Knoxville, Betty graduated in 1951 from UT’s College of Home Economics, specializing in early childhood education. She worked in the sales department at Fulton Sylphon until starting a family in 1955, but later used her teaching degree as a substitute teacher for Knoxville City Schools.

Betty was formerly a member of South Knoxville Baptist Church, where she was active in the sanctuary choir and the Women’s Missionary Union. Most recently, she was a member and choir member of Sevier Heights Baptist Church, singing for years in a “branch” of the Living Christmas Tree in performances around Knoxville. Both Betty and Bill were beloved members in the Paul Pickens Sunday School Class there. Betty also was active in the Knoxville Christian Women’s Club and the Knoxville Chapter of Home Economists in Homemaking Club. She was a caregiver to her own mother for many years.

She loved making stained glass artwork, collecting angels for her South Knoxville home, and buying small lighthouses to decorate the family’s weekend house on Cherokee Lake. She enjoyed traveling with Bill to Hawaii, the Caribbean and Switzerland and to various lighthouses on the different coasts. Her greatest joys were being with her many friends, family, grandchildren and most recently, her great-granddaughter, Yuna, “the apple of her eye.”

Betty was the embodiment of JOY…her and Bill’s favorite word… and she loved her Lord and Savior. She embraced her role as a Christian encourager, curating a long daily prayer list and pursuing a favorite pastime of mailing cards to friends and Sunday School Class members who were sick or unable to attend church, and she always included a prayer of encouragement in each.

Betty is preceded in death by her parents, Agnes Vasey McMahan and Ben Henderson McMahan; her beloved husband of 70 years, William B. (Bill) Hood, who passed away in April, and her sister Nancy McMahan Jones. Her family rejoices that she and Bill now can be together again in Heaven.

Survived by her three children: Mark J. Hood of Pompano Beach, Fla.; daughter Lisa Hood Skinner and husband Steve of Knoxville; William (Scott) Hood and wife Karen Fields Hood of Knoxville; three grandchildren Noelle Hood Kim of Knoxville, Molly Hood of Bristol, England and Andrew Hood with wife Katherine Hood, of San Diego, Calif., and one great grandchild, Yuna Claire Kim. Also survived by sister Shirley McMahan Wells, of Franklin, TN; many beloved nieces, nephews and cousins. The family would like to extend their appreciation to the staff of Morning Pointe of Powell for their loving and devoted care they provided for both their Mom and Dad.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 6:00pm in the chapel of Berry Funeral Home, 3704 Chapman Hwy, Knoxville. Rev. Charlie McNutt to officiate. The service will be live-streamed and may be viewed on the Berry Funeral Home Facebook page. An Interment Service at East Tennessee Veterans Cemetery will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to Sevier Heights Baptist Church, 3140 Maloney Road, Knoxville, Tennessee 37920.

Betty’s Prayer, sent to so many friends over the years:

“The Light of God Surrounds You

The Love of God Enfolds You

The Power of God Protects You

The Presence of God Watches Over You

And Wherever You Are, God is With You.”

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.berryfuneralhome.com for the Hood family.