Betsy A. Grant

Betsy Ann Grant, 73, of Glen Allen, devoted wife, mother and "Nana", passed away suddenly Dec. 5, 2009. She was born in Washington, D.C., to Jesse Ruth and Everett Alexander Culp. She was orphaned at an early age and moved to Lake Alfred, Fla., where she was raised by her aunt and uncle, Betty and John Barrows.

She graduated with a degree in elementary education from Flora McDonald College in Red Springs, N.C., where she met her husband to be, Linwood O. Grant, on a blind date. After graduation, she moved back to Florida and taught in Bowling Green prior to marrying Lin, who was stationed at Shilling AFB, Kansas. Shortly after marriage, they were transferred to Plattsburg AFB, New York, where she continued teaching and was honored with a "Best Teacher" award. After teaching for two and a half years, she left teaching to be a mother, a profession for which they do not award trophies, but in which she excelled. After her husband retired from the Air Force, they moved to Colonial Heights, Va., where she became a popular substitute teacher for 15-plus years in the Colonial Heights elementary schools.

Betsy was also instrumental in developing the after-school program at Wesley United Methodist Church. She and Lin left Colonial Heights to move to Glen Allen, Va., to be near their grandchildren in whom she took the utmost delight. She was gregarious, generous to a fault, and an eternal optimist. She will be missed in more ways than anyone can imagine. She was predeceased by her parents and her grandson, Owen Alexander Comly. She is survived by her husband of 46 years, retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Linwood O. Grant; daughter, Carron E. Grant-Comly, DVM (Charles); son, Douglas E. Grant, PhD.; grandson, Nathan Comly; sister, Nelda Spaur; sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Marcia and John Adams; and a host of nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and nephews and her devoted pet, "Wolfie".

The family will receive friends 6 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday (today), at Bliley's-Staples Mill, 8510 Staples Mill Road. Funeral services will be held 2 p.m. Wednesday at St. Peter's United Methodist Church, 15599 Mountain Road, Montpelier, Va. Interment private. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in her honor be made to either the National Kidney Foundation, the American Diabetes Association or The Owen A. Comly Memorial Fund at the University of Virginia Hospital NICU.