Betty Cline Devon, 87: Was a pioneer in laboratory technology

Betty Devon loved botany and was at home with a microscope in her hands.

She worked as a lab technologist or supervisor for 18 years at hospitals that included Georgia Baptist and Grady Memorial and the Veterans Affairs.

In 1946, Congress passed the Hill-Burton Act, legislation that provided federal grants and loans to improve the nation's hospital network. Mrs. Devon traveled Georgia in the 1950s to set up labs in small, mostly rural hospitals.

"Part of the adventure was finding these places because there were no interstates," said a daughter, Peggy Devon Rowe of Dacula. "She set up the equipment and trained personnel."

Before long, she established a name for herself in the medical community. The Georgia Society of Medical Technologists named her 1962 medical technologist of the year. She worked in the private sector as an educational coordinator and founded a business that offered medical technology education.

In 2007, Betty Cline Devon moved from the Lilburn-area of Stone Mountain to live near a son in Greenville, S.C. She died Jan. 10 from congestive heart failure at Rolling Green Village. She was 87. A memorial will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at Stone Mountain's Village Corner German Restaurant and Bakery. Cremation Society of South Carolina is in charge of arrangements.

In 1943, Mrs. Devon graduated from Furman University with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She studied laboratory technology at the Medical College of Charleston and embarked on a career that spanned decades.

First, she worked for an internist in Greenville then relocated to Atlanta. She set up laboratories for the state, served as an administrator for Grady's medical technology program and became an educational coordinator for Scientific Products Corp., a lab equipment manufacturer.

In 1978, she started NOVED, Inc., which offered local medical technology seminars and conferences. She retired in 1985, but her love for science endured.

"She was fascinated with cells and structures," her daughter said. "I have a lot of her books and I hesitate to get rid of them because they were so important to her. She was good with a microscope."

Dr. Lucius M. Cline III of Greenville remembers spending summers at the Buckhead home of his aunt and uncle, the late Charles G. Devon. He was a parks planner for the city of Atlanta and played trombone in local big bands.

"She was very strong-willed," Dr. Cline said. "She could do what she wanted and she went and did it."