Betsy Jane Sims Hendrick

Hendrick, Betsy Jane Sims, of Nashville, TN, born August 1, 1938 died November 13, 2018. Dr. Hendrick was a member of Woodmont Christian Church.

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She graduated from Isaac Litton High School (in 1956), attended Martin Junior College (in 1960), earned her BA (in 1962) and her MA (in 1963) from Middle Tennessee State University and her PhD (in 1980) from Peabody/Vanderbilt. Dr. Hendrick was an educator in the Metropolitan Nashville public school system serving as an English and Speech teacher, counselor, faculty student advisor, career education specialist, director of Tennessee Career Education Act and the Tennessee Job Placement Act.

After training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the summer of 1963, she worked with OEO and HEW as an English teacher, coordinator of English and writer in residence at Pine Manor Junior College outside of Boston in Brookshire.

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In 1963, the first color film strip, Macbeth, for Nashville City Schools was made under her direction at East Nashville High School. As a result there was a two page center fold in the Sunday Tennessean and 13 educational journals carried the story of this project. The Tennessee Educational magazine used it as their cover, as did the New Jersey Educational Journal.

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As director of the Tennessee Career Education Act, K-12 for Metropolitan Nashville Schools (1980-1984), the Career Education Program she created was the first Tennessee State validated program and was recommended for replication across the State. The State of Tennessee published and distributed 3000 copies of the career book she wrote for this program. The federally funded Job Placement Program for Metropolitan Nashville Schools under her direction (1982-1984) was acknowledged as the most successful program in the nation for high school students.

Dr. Hendrick also taught graduate classes at Peabody, Trevecca, Fisk, Tennessee State University and Vanderbilt as an adjunct professor.

She spoke for National Career Education conferences in Redding, CA (in 1981) and Louisville, KY (in 1983).

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In 1985, the East Nashville graduating class of 1965 honored her as the Outstanding Teacher at their twenty year reunion. In 1999, she was selected as the outstanding Middle Tennessee guidance counselor by her peers and in 2000, she retired from the Metropolitan Nashville public school system.

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Dr. Hendrick was a member of the Tennessee Vocational Council (from 1983-1987) and a lifetime member of the Tennessee Education Association and the National Education Association. She was also a member of the Woman’s Club of Nashville, the Middle Tennessee and American Day Lily Society. She was also involved in the Red Cross Youth Program and the American Heart Association.

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Her award winning acting and directing career included Macbeth, Keeper of the Key, the head role in the Bicentennial pageant, Raisin in the Sun at Howard University and I Have a Dream at Fisk University.

Dr. Hendrick was the daughter of the late, Leonard Sweptson and Annie Bea Cheatham Sims. She was also preceded in death by her siblings, Leonard Sweptson Sims, Jr., William Harding Sims and Dorothy Sims Blount.

She is survived by husband, James Robert “Jim” Hendrick, Jr.; children, Amy Hendrick (Clint) Bennett and Robert “Rob” (Sally) Hendrick, III; grandchildren, Zoe Jane Hendrick, Amy Katherine Hendrick, Abby Elizabeth Bennett, Carter Sims Bennett, Annie Lauren Hendrick and Chase Robert Bennett; loving niece, Beth (Steve) Burton and her children, Clair and Trey; Deborah Shaw, family in her heart; cousins, Sam and Martha Langham and their children, Lesia Langham (Preston) Goddard and Laura Langham; cousin, Mai Hosse; sister-in-law, Frances Hendrick Steverson; nephew, Ken (Mary) Steverson; niece, Daryl (Michael) Kozlowski; niece, Dannette Miller; nephew, Hill (Janie) Snyder and more wonderful Hendrick and Snyder family; and numerous loving devoted friends that were in her heart.

Visitation will be from 9-11 a.m. Wednesday, November 21, 2018 at Woodmont Christian Church.  A Celebration of Life service will follow at 11 a.m. with Senior Minister Dr. Clay Stauffer officiating.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Woodmont Christian Church, 3601 Hillsboro Rd., Nashville, TN 37215.

Arrangements by Bond Memorial Chapel, N. Mt. Juliet Road and Weston Drive, Mt. Juliet, TN. (615)773-2663. Obit Line (615)641-2663, www.bondmemorial.com