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NATCHEZ  — Natchez lost its Grand Dame on Friday when Bettye McGehee Jenkins died at the age of 98.

“She was pretty special,” said her only son, Hyde Rust “Rusty” Jenkins. “My mother was deeply in love with Natchez. She always felt a duty to do whatever she could do to help things out here.”

Bettye Jenkins was president of the Pilgrimage Garden Club at least twice during her adult life and was treasurer for more than 30 years, Jenkins said.

Perhaps her most impressive talent was her business acumen.

“She was really the brains behind the business that she and daddy built up,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins was born on Sept. 28, 1926, in Gloster. She moved with her family to Natchez in 1937, to her ancestral home, the historic Hawthorne.

Jenkins graduated from Ole Miss and went to work for Chevron of California in one of its district offices. It was during that time that she met and married the man she called the love of her life, Hyde Dunbar “Sonny” Jenkins. They raised three children, Rusty Jenkins, and daughters Stella McGehee and Carla Elizabeth.

She was anxious to start a business here, and used trade journals from her work with Chevron to identify all of the steel companies in the U.S. and wrote to them, telling them about opportunities in Natchez. One of them, T.E. Mercer of Fort Worth, Texas, agreed to open an oilfield pipe yard in Vidalia, Louisiana.

Recognizing the opportunities for the Natchez area to become a prime oil center, she and her husband Sonny along with partners Jack Parker and Doc Taunton purchased 11 acres of land in Vidalia and opened Vidalia Dock and Storage in March 1956.

Jenkins sold that business in 2021 at age 95 to Terrell Services, and finally retired. At the time of the sale, Vidalia Dock and Storage had a payroll of $1.5 million and 20 full-time employees.

During the years, Jenkins opened or was involved with a plethora of other successful businesses, including 2-J Ranch Inc. which was a rock company. In 2017 she was named Natchezian of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce.

“When she retired, she said she wasn’t sure what she would do with herself. She had been sitting behind the same desk every day for 65 straight years,” Rusty Jenkins said.

Jenkins was as devoted to Natchez tourism as she was to her business pursuits.

“Years ago, 800 people a day would come through the house. My dad would say we need to quit this. Mama would say we are going to keep this house open,” he said. “Finally it got to the point that she couldn’t do it any longer. Dad had died and mom’s health started going down and we took the house off the tour.

“So many of Mama’s friends have passed on. She was a member of the Order of the Garter, where women wore a garter at their wedding and passed it on and each of their daughters wore it and their granddaughters wore it. Mama was the last of the original garter girls. She still has the garter at the house,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins loved playing bridge and Doris Ann Benoist loved playing with her.

“I’ve been playing bridge with her for a number of years. She was a remarkable woman, so kind and sweet,” Benoist said. “I am so sad, but she was ready to go. I saw her a little over a week ago and I could tell. She was just tired.”

Benoist said Jenkins’ bridge skills were still sharp as ever. In the last few years, the group has played bridge at Jenkins’ home because that was easiest for her.

“I have known Bettye since I married Jack Benoist. I loved to hear her stories about Natchez, and she loved to tell them. She was Old Natchez,” she said.

Peggy Benson played bridge with Jenkins and Benoist and was a friend of Jenkins’ for many years.

“I just told Doris Ann that Bettye was so sweet and was just a wonderful person,” Benson said.

When Benson was president of the Pilgrimage Garden Club, Jenkins was treasurer.

“She did everything for me, and did everything she could for the garden club …Tourists loved to go to her house, and I can just see her on the front porch greeting guests. It was always wonderful to go there. Doris Ann and I so enjoyed playing Bridge with her and going to all of the Fourth of July parties at her house. I loved her. I really did,” Benson said.

Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson recently honored Jenkins with a Key to the City honoring her accomplishments and many contributions to Natchez.

“Heaven today is a richer and more beautiful place. Our dear Bettye McGehee Jenkins, matriarch of Natchez, has gotten her wings. She will be greatly missed,” Gibson said. “Just a few weeks ago, I was blessed Ms. Bettye with a Key to the City. The memory of that day will forever live as one of my sweetest memories as mayor. May God bless the Jenkins family and Ms. Bettye’s many friends.”

Funeral services for Jenkins will be July 5 at First Presbyterian Church. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. and the services will begin at 11 a.m.