Bettye Blount

A life well lived is a life loved. That adage couldn't be more true for Bettye Blount, who lived life to the fullest until her death October 8th at 100 years old.

Blount, a retired DeKalb County School System German teacher (Shamrock High School) and a former adjunct professor at Clayton State University, led an adventurous life full of amazing journeys throughout the world, literally dancing to the beat of her heart while absorbing every iota of knowledge shared by the friends she made in country after country.

During her years as a teacher, Blount's students became enamored with German language and literature through her unorthodox teaching methods. Many of her former students remarked at her 100th birthday celebration in July that she was the catalyst that changed their lives.

She graduated from Georgia State University with an undergraduate degree in German (minor in Spanish) in 1972 and master's degree in Education. Foreign languages intrigued her. She spoke not only German and Spanish fluently but also French, Italian and Portuguese. Her language expertise allowed her to communicate with locals almost anywhere she traveled, a huge bonus for her travel companions.

During the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, she served as the interpreter for the president of the international shooting association and his wife, who traveled from Germany to attend the Games. She attended all events they were interested in as well as both Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

Every summer during her 20-year teaching career, Blount organized a trip to Germany and other European destinations for her students along with a separate, more far flung trip for her fellow educators. She explored six of the seven continents, sailed through the Panama Canal numerous times and spent weeks sailing the entire coast of South America.

Every trip was an adventure. She rode a camel in Egypt and an elephant in Thailand, withstood the monkey hoard in Gibraltar, and waved off an angry kangaroo in Australia. Never one to panic, she remained calm and herded 20 of her friends to safety when their ship hit an iceberg on an Alaskan cruise and began taking water.

At 85, Blount decided to fulfill one of the biggest items on her bucket list - skydiving. She and her tandem partner flew to 13,000 feet before they jumped into the bright blue sky above the Sonoma, CA, vineyards. Blount said her mouth dried out because she couldn't stop grinning during the excitement of the jump.

When her tandem partner asked mid-jump if she wanted to pull the ripcord, she replied, "You do it this time and I'll do it next time."

Since that time, she has also checked off several more high-flying items from her must do list including parasailing in the Caribbean, hot air ballooning over Napa Valley and a helicopter tour of Atlanta. When asked recently whether she was interested in another adventure, Blount replied with her usual wry sense of humor, "I think I've checked off everything on my bucket list. I'm good."

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