Bettie Jo Hardin Wilson

Bettie Jo Hardin Wilson, known as BJ, passed away peacefully at home on the morning of September 17, 2026, at the age of 81. She had lived with Primary Lateral Sclerosis, a rare, progressive motor neuron disorder, for 37 years. She expressed her final desire to “Tend My Master’s Garden.”

Bettie Jo was born to Joseph Talton Hardin and Virginia Dixon Curry on February 13, 1945, and was the middle child of five. She graduated from Asheboro High School before completing a BA in Sociology from Guilford College and a Masters in Sociology from Wake Forest University. A lifelong Methodist, she was an active member and supporter of Kingswood UMC in Rural Hall, NC, for more than 50 years. Bettie Jo was a multi-talented person who could paint on canvas, sew (including designing and hand-sewing her wedding gown), play guitar, and make crafts, and she loved growing flowers and vegetables. She also sold her work at craft shows and was active in the Winston-Salem Crafts Guild. Bettie Jo married Donald Carter Wilson of Greensboro, NC, at Central UMC in Asheboro on November 29, 1968. After they both graduated from Wake Forest, they moved to Havre de Grace, MD, where Don was in training in the Army. They learned to live on a junior officer’s salary before he was transferred to Anchorage, AK. They lived in Alaska for two winters, which Bettie Jo endured by baking chocolate chip cookies once a week to bring the smell of warmth and joy into their home. The cookies became legendary. Bettie Jo worked as a Social Worker for Randolph County while Don completed a tour in Vietnam. After Don’s discharge and return, the couple moved to Germanton, into the house they shared for the rest of Bettie Jo’s life. In 1972, Bettie Jo transferred to the Forsyth County Department of Social Services. A few years later, after both of her children were born, Bettie Jo spent several years as a stay-at-home mother, encouraging their imagination and creativity, making many of their clothes, and coordinating an ever-growing number of hobbies and activities. After returning to work outside the home, and before becoming disabled herself, Bettie Jo spent most of her career working with disabled people. This included working as an instructor at a sheltered workshop through Forsyth Tech Community College, a teacher at The Enrichment Center, and a social worker at Horizons Residential Care Center. She worked until her disabilities exceeded the accommodations and accessibility tools that were available to her. In her retirement, she found ways to continue to express her creativity, including creating booklets about cooking and gardening techniques for disabled people. Bettie Jo was preceded in death by her parents and grandparents. She is survived by her husband Don, her children Tracy Virginia (Patrick Clapp) and Matthew Shawn (Jennifer), and Matthew’s children Liliane, known as Lily, and Neoma. She is also survived by siblings Georgianna (Ron) McElhannon, Mary Isley, Talton (Gay) Hardin, and June (Brad) Surratt, and their children and grandchildren.

A graveside service will take place at 1:00 pm on September 24 at Lakeview Memorial Park, 3600 N. O’Henry Blvd., Greensboro, NC. A Celebration of Life will be held at 2:00 pm on October 17 at Hayworth-Miller Funeral Home at 305 Bethania-Rural Hall Road, Rural Hall, NC.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations dedicated to PLS research may be made to Spastic Paraplegia Foundation, 6952 Clayborne Drive, O’Fallon, MO 63368-6202.