Sophie “Betty” Young would often have a lawn service cut her yard, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t cut it herself.
“She was cutting the grass up into her 80s,” said Young’s son Blake Young Jr. “Even though we got her a yard service, she wouldn’t ever like it and she would cut it again.”
Young said his mother was active her entire life and would walk every day through their neighborhood of Peachtree Battle and talk to anyone and everyone she saw.
As well as her notoriety among her neighborhood, she was known as the “mayor” of Alton Road.
“She’s probably bossing God around right now because they aren’t talking enough up there,” daughter-in-law Studie Young said.
Sophie Elizabeth “Betty” Young, 98, died Oct. 26 in her home in Atlanta of natural causes.
Young attended the North Avenue Presbyterian School, what is now The Westminster Schools, in the early 1930s and was captain of the basketball and swim team all four years. She also held the high jump record for the school until the 1980s and tried out for the Olympics in the mid-30s.
Young’s daughter, Carol Hall, said her mother’s competitive drive and sometimes stubborn attitude were apparent even when she was in her 90s. Hall said her family was having trouble getting her to stop driving until one afternoon when she was inside her garage and accidentally hit the gas pedal instead of the brakes.
“We didn’t know if we were going to have to have the sheriff come out and tell her or what,” Hall said. “She totaled her car inside her garage. It was a mess, but it did get her to stop driving.”
Blake Young said if it wasn’t for his mother, none of his siblings would be where they are today.
“She made me do things that I didn’t want to do, and invariably I would always end up having a good time for it,” Young said. “Like going to summer camp when I never wanted to and things like that. She was a real motivating force, just a strong person.”
Hall said her mother broke her hip in 2006 but continued to walk the neighborhood and stay active. “She knew everybody and was honorary great-grandmother on the street,” Hall said.
H.M. Patterson and Son, Spring Hill Chapel, 1020 Spring St., is handling the arrangements, and a memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church with a reception afterward. Visitation will be held one hour before the service.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to First Presbyterian Church, 1328 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta, Ga. 30309.
Aside from her son, daughter and daughter-in-law, Young is survived by her son Zach Young, eight grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
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