Above is a picture of Betty receiving her T-shirt in appreciation of 50+ hours of trail maintenance in the Ocoee Ranger District of the Cherokee National Forest.

Here's a picture of a bench at Chattanooga Nature Center in Betty's honor. Beside the bench is a marble marker also in her honor.

Betty J. Petty, 71, of Chattanooga, was taken from this earthly life in a traffic accident on December 18, 2013. A long-time member and past president of the Chattanooga Hiking Club, she had faithfully and tirelessly worked for more than ten years to maintain the club's website, publish the monthly newsletter, and keep the membership database. She was also a past president of the Benton MacKaye Trail Association, and was very active in several other hiking and environmental organizations. The southern portion of the Cherokee National Forest, and especially the designated wilderness areas within, were particularly dear to her heart. Whether it was on her computer, in a meeting in some office, or out on the trail with loppers in hand, she was there doing much more than her share of the work. And doing it quite cheerfully.

She was a lover of animals, and those who visited her home marveled at the size and variety of the menagerie she tended to every day. There were goats, chickens, Guineas, ducks, geese, three dogs, and a cat. She had a beautiful flower garden, and was quite knowledgeable of regional wildflowers. Over the years she organized and led many a local hike or camping trip, and in recent years had even led several well-planned small group expeditions to western national parks. But primarily she was a joyful companion out on the trail or around a campfire, fun loving and outgoing, very much an integral part of her hiking family. And now that hiking family will be sorely missing her, but lovingly remembering her, and thankfully celebrating all the time we shared with her. John

More pictures of Betty