Doris "Jean" Rymer

Rogersville;  Doris “Jean” Rymer of Rogersville, died peacefully, July 17, 2018, at the Ben Atchley Veteran’s Home in Knoxville, TN.   She was 90 years old.  Jean was born in Greenwood, SC, to a loving Christian family, being the oldest of three children.  She had a large extended family, most working in the textile mills and living in the mill village.  Jean was a member of West Side Baptist Church where her father was a deacon and she and her sister were South Carolina state champions in Bible sword drill.  Following high school she attended Mars Hill College for 2 years before transferring to Carson Newman College where she earned a degree in English and met her future husband, Forrest “Bill” Rymer.  After graduating with honors she moved to Washington, DC, where she worked for one year before returning to TN to marry her college sweetheart.  The couple eventually settled in Kingston, TN where they began their family, living in the house built by her husband and his cousin.  While raising 4 children, she became an accomplished water skier and dancer.  In 1966, the family moved to Rogersville, TN and Jean returned to college to earn a teaching certificate in elementary education.  She taught second grade at Hawkins County Elementary school until her retirement.  Jean loved to teach and loved her students, often remarking that they were, “too young to misbehave.”  Following retirement she became a member in a women’s investment club, Rogersville Doll Club and continued to be active in her church, First Baptist of Rogersville. She loved going to the beach, traveling with family and friends, raising day lilies and iris flowers, going to yard sales and collecting tea pots.  But her favorite activity was to have all nine of her grandchildren at her house cooking anything they wanted, developing and putting on plays and letting them play well into the night.  Jean is preceded in death by her husband, Bill, brother, Judson Ayers Jr., and her daughter, Jan Rymer Henn.
 
She is survived by her children, Bill Rymer and wife, Terry, Betsy Thomas and husband, Reed, and John Rymer and wife, Jeannie; Jan’s husband Mark Henn and his wife Ann Avery; sister, Ann Ayers of Greenwood, SC.  She has 9 grandchildren, 3 great grandchildren, and 2 expected to be arriving in early Sept.
Visitation hours will be 1:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M. Saturday, July 21, 2018 at Broome Funeral Home, Rogersville.
Funeral service will be conducted at 3:00 P.M., July 21, 2018 in the funeral home chapel with Rev. John North officiating. Burial will follow in McKinney Cemetery.
Online condolences may be made at www.broomefuneralhome.net
Broome Funeral Home is honored to serve the Rymer family..

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