Betty Baity Groce

Betty Jane McBride Baity Groce, 90, of Huntsville, North Carolina, passed away on December 26, 2017, surrounded by her loving family. Betty was born on December 25, 1927, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to William Walter and Nancy Money McBride.  She grew up in the West Bend community where she loved playing in the river with her brothers and sisters.  Betty graduated early from Lewisville High School and began working at Flying Safety and Hanes Hosiery where she played industrial league basketball.  She then married and became a mother to four children who loved her dearly.  She later returned to the workforce at Hanes Hosiery and retired from the Northwest North Carolina Dairy Herd Improvement Association, where she was recognized as the 1984 Supervisor of the Year.  An accomplished seamstress, Betty also enjoyed traveling, history, genealogy, building rock walls, flowers, and fishing.  Her family will always remember her quick wit and her devotion to them, including the weekly Sunday dinners she prepared as long as she was able.  Betty was always young at heart and willing to drop everything and play with her children and grandchildren, whether it was playing in the woods or teaching her granddaughters how to drive.  A lifelong basketball fan, Betty could be found in the stands of her children and grandchildren’s sporting events, cheering them on.  Betty was a member of Huntsville Baptist Church.  She was preceded in death by her parents; her first husband Henry Baity; her second husband Thomas Groce; her brothers William, Warren, Thomas Homer, Paul and an infant brother; her sister Frances Harris; her half-sisters Louise Thoman and Helen Lewis; and her grandson Russell Craver. She is survived by two sisters Nancy Warner (Winston-Salem) and Karlene Cope (Advance); children Judy (Steve) Driver of Mount Airy, David (Ruth Ann) Baity of Yadkinville, Jane (Mickey) Craver of Yadkinville, and Robert (Debbie) Baity of Yadkinville; her grandchildren Kristy (Bryan) Moxley and great-grandson Mason Moxley of Boonville, Lee (Matt) Dunn and great-grandchildren Lauren and Emma Holowiti and Jake and Zack Dunn of Lewisville, and Laura (Daniel) Miller and great-grandsons Wesley and Eli Miller of Yadkinville; and many nieces and nephews, special friends and neighbors.  A funeral service will be conducted at 2:00PM, Saturday, December 30, 2017 at Huntsville Methodist Church with Rev. Brian Chilton and Rev. Dennis Shaw officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.  The family will receive friends Friday evening from 6:00 to 8:00PM at Gentry Funeral Service in Yadkinville.  Memorials may be made to the Huntsville Historical Preservation Society, c/o Mrs. Anne White, 5205 Courtney-Huntsville Road, Yadkinville, NC, 27055. The family would like to express their sincere gratitude to the staff at Mountain Valley Hospice, particularly Ashley Cain and Penny Boyd, for the excellent care of their mother and grandmother. Online condolences may be made at www.gentryfuneralservice.com. Gentry Family Funeral Service in Yadkinville is serving the Groce family.