CLASS NOTES
IN MEMORIAM • FACULTY Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Bingham Marney 1940 – 2020 Dr. Betty Marney taught Upper School English at Harpeth Hall from 1974 to 1985, and she also served as Department Chair. She was born in Bristol, Tennessee, and spent part of her childhood there before moving to the Panama Canal Zone with her mother when she was 10. After her mother’s death, Betty returned to Bristol to live with her grandmother Elizabeth Turner Morison and graduated from Tennessee High School in 1958. She completed an AA degree at Sullins College before matriculating to the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill where she earned a B.A. and M.A. in English, graduating Summa Cum Laude and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Betty took a teaching position at Southern Methodist University in 1963 where she worked with Laurence “Larry” Perrine, the author of “Literature, Structure, Sound, and Sense,” a title that will evoke memories for all Harpeth Hall students who crossed paths with Betty from 1975-1985! After SMU, Betty attended the University of Texas at Austin where she earned her Ph.D. in English. On a trip back to Bristol, she met a promising young medical resident named Sam Marney, and they were married for over 53 years. They were blessed with two children, Samuel Rowe Marney, III and Annis Morison Marney ’88 and four grandchildren, Dylan Elizabeth Marney, Quinn Alexis Marney, Ian Marney Dukes, and Annis Kyle (AK) Morison Dukes. Betty embarked on a teaching career at Harpeth Hall in the fall of 1974, where in the words of her daughter Annis, “for 10 years she earned a reputation as both inspiring and sometimes terrifying. Her love of English literature was contagious. She adored working with young women, and she helped establish some traditions that became lore, including dressing up with colleagues Dona Gower and Sarah Stamps as the Three Witches from Macbeth for Halloween. Although students sometimes (often) confessed to living in fear of Betty, she was also called by many students the best teacher they had ever encountered.” Former Harpeth Hall colleague, Ginger Osborn ’66 commented that, “every statement that Betty Marney said was either profound or hilarious. She insisted that everything in the English department mattered. I was so blessed to have known Betty, and her whole life was a testament to integrity.” After leaving Harpeth Hall in 1985, Betty earned a law degree from Vanderbilt at the age of 48 and thrived in her second career as an attorney. She worked at the firm of King and Ballow before becoming in-house counsel at the Nashville Banner, and she was proud to have written the brief for and attended one case before the U.S. Supreme Court. She completed her legal career working in the Criminal Appellate Division of the Tennessee Attorney General’s office. Upon retirement in 2008, Betty and Sam enjoyed several years of international travel and visited every continent, except for Antarctica. She and Sam enjoyed their grandchildren, and being the consummate teacher, Betty took every opportunity to teach them about whatever might interest them. The past few years, Betty served as a steadfast and loving companion for her husband, Sam, who has suffered from various illnesses. She was grateful for the many generous and kind caregivers who helped them so that they could remain in their home in Green Hills, where they had lived for over 50 years. 62
HALLWAYS
Karen Rom Nash • 1941 - 2020
K
aren Nash taught Middle School Earth Science and Physical Science at Harpeth Hall from 1981 to 2007. She held the title of Department Chair, was a member of the Cum Laude Society, and was the recipient of the Ellen Bowers Hofstead Chair in Mathematics and Science in 2001. During the height of WWII in 1941, Karen was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the daughter of a Norwegian father and a Swedish mother. The family returned to Notodden, Norway, in 1945, and Karen vividly remembered the ship on which she and her family traveled to Europe carefully avoiding German mines along the way. Karen returned to the United States for college, first at Atlantic Christian College and then at Duke University, where she earned a B.S. in Science, Phi Beta Kappa in 1964. She and her husband, Jim, married the next day. She furthered her education by earning a M.A.T. from Duke in 1968 and settled into a teaching career, first in North Carolina and Missouri, and then finally at Harpeth Hall when Jim took a position at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Psychiatry. During her 26-year tenure, Karen left a lasting impression on her students and her faculty colleagues. Ann Teaff, Head of School from 1998 to 2014 said, “I forever will carry in my heart beautiful memories of Karen. Her fierce commitment to the vision of Harpeth Hall, her deep love for the wonder and beauty of science and sharing that love with her students...her lovely smile, her quick wit.” Former faculty member and division leader Betsy Malone added, “I was very fortunate to work with Karen Nash for 17 years, first as a fellow science teacher and later as Director of the Middle School. Karen had the highest standards for her teaching and learning, and she encouraged excellence in each of her students. Karen never hesitated to voice an opinion or to point out ways we could do better. It was an extra bonus for teachers and students to share her Norwegian/Swedish culture and perspectives. With memorable lessons like the ‘Molecule Dance,’ Karen challenged us to ‘think out of the box.’ She was a wonderful person, teacher, and colleague.” Margaret Walker Clair, who received the Katie Wray Valedictory Award at the Class of 2006 graduation ceremony, shared her memories of her beloved teacher. “Mrs. Nash was legendary for teaching the most difficult course in the middle school. Of all the experiments, two stand out. The experiment to discern the contents of your ‘sludge’ was a rite of passage. Measuring the density of a classmate by submerging her in a trash can of water was incredibly memorable! Mrs. Nash was the type of teacher you came to love because of the discipline and excellence required from you as a student. I also recall her very dry sense of humor that we came to appreciate in time. I think that at some point my classmates and I learned that she had a motorcycle, which had us both in awe and flabbergasted. It’s always a little weird to realize your teachers have lives, too!” Karen’s husband recalled with great affection that his wife was “a trouper.” He continued, “We raised two sons while she taught full time and joined in all the activities of the family, including various sports, music, cars, motorcycling, dogs and a cat. She never got down, or if she did, she didn’t show it. Parkinson’s was catching up to her when she retired from Harpeth Hall.” She and Jim moved to California in 2007 to be near family. She died of complications from Parkinson’s on May 15, in the midst of the pandemic of 2020, at the age of 78. Her ashes await Jim’s in the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon, California.
