Linetta Amanda Glass was born November 17, 1928, in Roseland, Arkansas.  She was the first of seven children born to Louis and Lillian Glass.  When Linetta was 12 years old the family moved to rural New Madrid, Missouri where her parents bought a large farm.  At the age of 14 she went to boarding school at Western Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, a Baptist high school and college for African-American students.  Linetta often reflected about going to school so far away from home.  Most of her siblings followed soon after her, and she often told the story about one of the professors who visited the farm in New Madrid because he had to see this man who was able to send four of his children to the seminary for high school as well as college.  Linetta took her education very seriously and “Having excelled in scholarship and character and showing promise of usefulness to church and community life,” the Western Baptist Seminary Faculty named her to the Phi Sigma Scholarship Society in 1949.

In 1951 Linetta earned her Bachelor of Science in Education degree.  She began her teaching career in a one-room school in Missouri, which is probably one of the reasons she liked the television shows “Little House on the Prairie” and “The Waltons” so much.  Her early teaching career lasted one year, and then she moved to Pittsburgh for a better paying job and lived with her cousin Rosetta Glass.  That move only lasted a few months because John R. Hatcher had continued to court her long distance and convinced her to marry him on October 10, 1952, and she became a wife and homemaker.  They began their marriage in Nashville, Tennessee where John was a math professor at Fisk University, and Linetta worked at Meharry Hospital.  In 1954 they moved to California for John’s career, but Linetta always found a way to make “her own spending money”.  She was always very active in a local church wherever they lived, and she loved teaching children.  In 1959 John and Linetta had their only child, Sylvia Valene Hatcher.  Linetta loved living in Los Angeles and was disappointed to move once again for John’s career in 1969.

They moved to Springfield, Missouri where John taught at Southwest Missouri State University, and Linetta continued her role as a wife and mother in a very different culture than that which she enjoyed in Los Angeles.  Although they now lived near her parents, she still missed California.  After she found her spiritual family at South Haven Baptist Church, Springfield became her home.  She taught the 3-year-old Sunday School class and Vacation Bible School, and she enjoyed the fellowship of her adult Sunday School class for decades.

In 1980 Linetta assisted fellow South Haven member Valerie Killingsworth to start Carpenter’s Kids Preschool.  Their dream was a preschool that focused on the needs of the whole child with hands-on experiences in a Christian environment.  It has grown, expanded and is still going strong 44 years later as a preschool and kindergarten.  Linetta loved everything about Carpenter’s Kids, especially the children.  Father’s purpose for her life was being fulfilled through that ministry, and it gave her exactly what she needed.  She retired three times; she just couldn’t stay away!

Linetta loved her relatives and was very close to her siblings, their spouses and their children.  Weeks during the summer months spent on the farm in New Madrid gave them all the opportunity to connect in person since they all lived in different states from coast to coast.  Family reunions in different locations have continued the connection.  John and Linetta felt like they had a real son when their daughter Sylvia married Phillip F. Smith, Jr.  They visited them often, especially when their grandchildren were born.  They enjoyed the road trips to Rhode Island and Colorado, but Linetta never wanted to stay too long and often told Phil and Sylvia to go and live their lives just like she and John were living theirs.  Linetta moved to Aurora, Colorado to live with Phillip and Sylvia after John’s death in November 2022.  She enjoyed time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and she liked to reminisce about all of the blessings that God had given to her during her 95 years on Earth.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 70 years, John R. Hatcher and two brothers, Earl Glass and Louis Glass.  She is survived by her “son” and daughter:  Phillip and Sylvia Smith, her grandchildren and their spouses:  Gerald and Dominique Bargaineer and John-Rudolph and Madison Smith, her great-grandchildren:  Gerald Anthony Bargaineer III, Giovanna Arielle Bargaineer and Khari Hatcher Smith, her siblings: Pearl Allen, Lillian Hunter, Anne Anthony and Augustus Glass, and many nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.

A celebration of Linetta’s life will be at 11:00 am, Saturday, July 27, 2024 at South Haven Baptist Church.  The family will receive friends from 10:00 am – 11:00 am at the church. In lieu of flowers , memorial donations may be made in Linetta’s name to South Haven Carpenter’s Kids Preschool. Mrs. Hatcher’s service will be simulcasted at https://www.south-haven.org/ and click the Watch Live link.

Funeral services have been entrusted to Greenlawn Funeral Home South.