Jemmie Davis Batchellor

BATCHELLOR, JEMMIE DAVIS, 86, an active Methodist church woman and a librarian at Palmetto Senior High School from when it opened in 1957 until she retired in 1973 as the head librarian, died Sunday, January 18, at her home in Fort Lauderdale. Mrs. Batchellor began teaching in Williamsburg, KY, where she grew up as one of 13 children. She moved to Miami with her twin sister, Joie, and older sister, Blanche, during World War II, joining another older sister, Pauline, who had gotten a job in Miami censoring war-time mail. All four sisters obtained teaching jobs. Mrs. Batchellor, who earned a master's degree in library science and English from George Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville, TN, initially taught junior-high English at Miami Beach High School during 1943-1944. Working as a hostess for the Red Cross in 1945, she met her future husband while on a moonlight cruise for GI's in Miami for rest and relaxation. Five months later, she married Charles C. Batchellor, an Army Corps of Engineers captain, in a military wedding at the Miami Beach Community Church on Lincoln Road. They remained married for 58 years until his death in March 2003. Although Mrs. Batchellor temporarily returned to Kentucky during her husband's service in the Philippines and Korea, and then followed him on Army reassignments to Virginia (where she taught in the Chesapeake, VA, school system) and Missouri, she came back to Miami in 1952 following his discharge. She was a librarian at Horace Mann Junior High (1952-1953), at William Jennings Bryan Elementary School (1953-1955) and at North Miami Junior School (1955-1957). She moved to Palmetto when it opened in 1957. At Palmetto, she was one of only a handful of teachers to oppose what was then called the Classroom Teachers Association (now United Teachers of Dade) and to cross picket lines during the 1968 statewide teachers' strike. She retired in June 1973. She was president of the Dade County School Librarians Association and during 1968-1970, of the local chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa, an honorary sorority for women educators. Following their move to what is now Pinecrest, Mrs. Batchellor and her late husband became active in the choir and in youth work at Kendall United Methodist Church. After retiring to Blue Ridge, Mrs. Batchellor continued her Methodist activities with the Blue Ridge Methodist Church. After they moved to Fort Lauderdale in October 1995 to be near her daughter, Karen Coolman Amlong, Mrs. Batchellor joined Christ United Methodist Church, where the pastor, Richard Wills, was a former member of the Methodist Youth Fellowship group she had overseen in Kendall. Mrs. Batchellor taught Sunday School at Methodist Churches in Miami, Kentucky, Virginia, Missouri and Georgia. Mrs. Batchellor is survived by her daughter, Karen Coolman Amlong, of Fort Lauderdale; her grandsons, Charles Clay Coolman of Dillon, CO and Nathan Corey Coolman of San Diego, CA; her sister, Blanche Mitchell of Miami and her brothers, Kenneth Davis of Louisville, KY, Franklin Davis, D.D.S., of Port Charlotte, FL and Elmer Davis, MD, of Pensacola, FL and her two Labrador Retrievers, Midnight and Christie. A Memorial Service will be held at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24th at the First Presbyterian Church of Fort Lauderdale, 401 SE 15th Ave. FRED HUNTER'S FUNERAL HOME, FORT LAUDERDALE. To visit this Guest Book Online, go to www.herald.com/obituaries.