Dr. Benjamin Hooper Layne
Benjamin's obituary
Benjamin Hooper Layne
Benjamin (Benny, Ben) Hooper Layne, age 79, passed away on March 31, 2025, after a long battle with Lewy Body Dementia. He was born in Sweetwater, TN, on September 26, 1945, the eldest son of Opal Marie Trotter Layne and Hooper Layne.
Ben graduated in 1963 from Sweetwater High School, as salutatorian of his class and the best self-taught football punter in Sweetwater history. After graduating from Hiwassee College, he attended the University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK), graduating in 1967. Ben then moved to Oak Ridge, TN, where he was a computer programmer in the Y-12 National Security Complex. Wanting a less solitary (and only slightly more dangerous) workplace, he moved back to Sweetwater to teach math and coach basketball and tennis at Tennessee Military Institute. Finding that he had a love for teaching, Ben returned to graduate school at UTK, finishing his master’s degree in 1972 and his doctorate in 1975, successfully defending a totally readable dissertation entitled “A Comparison of Different Techniques for Dividing Samples into Subsamples in Preparation for the Bartlett-Kendall Test of Equal Variances.”
After graduating from his doctoral program, he accepted a faculty position at Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, teaching graduate-level classes in research, measurements, and statistics as well as lunchtime 10Ks and pickup basketball until his retirement in 2001. In his retirement, he accepted a position at Woodward Academy in College Park, GA. While offered a position in the high school, he believed he could make the most difference in the lives of children by teaching math to seventh graders. Ben was meant to be a teacher, and students commented on how he made learning fun and exciting when he wasn’t “impressing” them by making complex and instantaneous calculations on the fly. His students also spoke of his interest in their successes, not only from an academic and career standpoint, but also helping them learn valuable life skills as well.
In addition to his parents Ben was preceded in death by his sister, Wanda Sue Layne Harold (Paul) and his half-brother, Terry Vance Lane (Barbara).
He will be missed by those surviving him. He was a loving husband to his wife of 40 years, Sherry Katherine Gaines, Chattanooga, TN, a proud and loving father to his son (and admittedly inferior basketball player), Tyler Nathaniel Layne and daughter-in-law, Mary Elizabeth Darby, and a doting “Pappy” to his grandson and namesake, Benjamin “Benny” Reed Layne, Nashville, TN. Ben’s family was always in his heart and he is survived by his brothers, Douglas Franklin Layne (Ann Marie), Knoxville, TN, Randall Lee Layne (Sue), Hendersonville, TN, and his cousin, Ron Bailey (Elaine) from Charlotte, NC, who he always thought of as a brother. He is survived by numerous nieces, nephews, and other family members by marriage, all of whom he loved dearly.
Ben cherished friendships, staying in touch with friends from childhood and continuing to forge new friendships throughout his life. He treated everyone with dignity and respect, and his giving and loving nature touched numerous lives. Many fondly remember his “Tour de Friends,” during which he took two weeks each summer to travel the South and reconnect with friends he had not seen in many years. He leaves behind many close friends too numerous to name individually.
He was an athlete and coach. Ben coached his son’s community baseball team and the 8th grade boys’ basketball team at Woodward Academy. He loved running, participating in the Peachtree Road Race until a health problem put an end to his running career. Not to be deterred, he participated in race walking events and continued brisk walking every day for exercise. He loved tennis and basketball and played from high school through adulthood. In retirement, he developed a passion for table tennis, becoming a competitive tournament player and winning the silver medal at the national Senior Olympics. At the same Senior Olympics, he also won the silver medal in free throw basketball shooting, with an astounding 98/100 made.
Ben was a natural performer and loved nothing more than laughing and making others laugh, whether teaming with a friend for a yearly New Year’s Eve performance of the Saturday Night Live skit, “Wild and Crazy Guys” or doing a pitch perfect Andy Griffith impression when reciting “What it Was Was Football.” In his later years, nothing brought him more joy than hearing his grandson, Benny, laugh, a reaction Ben could elicit at the drop of a hat with his funny voices and faces.
Ben’s love and knowledge of music was vast. He amazed everyone with his ability to hear music and to be able to identify the artist and title of the song he was hearing. He enjoyed singing and, as a young man, he took voice lessons, which gave him the courage to sing Ave Maria solo in a performance. Some of his favorite memories were singing and listening to music with his brothers. Music became a comfort to him as Lewy Body Dementia robbed him of other abilities.
His family is grateful for loving caregivers from Caring Senior Services, Chattanooga, TN, who came to know Ben as his friends and family knew him, a sweet, gentle, and kind person. We are also grateful to Hearth Hospice for their care of Ben at the end of his life.
Ben’s emphasis on giving to causes throughout his life will continue after his death. Ever the professor, he long ago registered to become a Whole Body Donor to Vanderbilt University’s medical school, wanting to contribute to health education and research.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Lewy Body Dementia Association (https://www.lbda.org/) to further its research and efforts to find a treatment for this devastating disease. If you do not wish or are unable to give, prayers for a Vols national championship or Braves World Series win would have also been welcomed by Ben.
An event in Ben’s honor will be held at a future date to allow friends and family to celebrate a life well-lived.
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