Tammy Layne (Bates) Bartley's Obituary
Tammy Layne (Bates) Bartley was born in February 1960, to Jo-Ann and Herbert Bates. She was the 3rd of 5 living children and jokingly referred to herself as the poor middle-child. Tammy's family roots are in the rich Appalachian culture of eastern Kentucky, in fact in the same holler that the movie “Coal Miners Daughter” was filmed. Her grandfather drove his pickup truck through a scene as a movie extra. The wonderful memories of living with her grandparents and aunts while her father flew Air Force missions over Vietnam gave her a strong foundation of family ties and support. Her sister Linda was her constant companion and best friend throughout her life. Later she attended school with 3 of her siblings in Okinawa, Japan and then in Taipei, Tiawan. Later they returned to the US and lived on several different Air Force bases in Florida, returning each summer to Kentucky for the Polly and Bates family reunions. Family always came first.
Tammy was the Aunt Extraordinaire. While never aspiring to have children of her own, when her younger sister Linda became a mother and her Marine husband deployed, Tammy became birthing coach, co-mother, nanny and aunt to 3 beautiful children. As the nieces and nephews grew, she became a great aunt and after marrying Rick, stepmother to 2 teenage daughters. Years later when Rick's daughters married, she was Mimi to 3 grandsons. Tammy biked, climbed trees, hiked, swam, cooked, baked and swung with them all- spoiling them wonderfully.
Tammy earned an Electronics Technology degree from Sante Fe College in Gainesville, FL and was hired by International Business Machines (IBM Corp). Tammy and husband Rick met while working on a client account team together in Jacksonville, FL. Tammy developed her AIX-RISC skills to become a Business Recovery Consultant, helping major corporations in the US develop and test the processes necessary to quickly move their IT Systems to emergency data centers during disasters. Tammy and Rick were transferred to Memphis, TN where Tammy worked on the FedEx HQ account. Thirteen years later moving to Belton, TX and then to Lakeland, FL to enjoy retirement.
While in Memphis, Tammy retired from IBM to pursue her long-time passion of baking to become a professional baker. She loved baking, because it was like chemistry; and she loved the process of developing, scaling up and testing recipes so they could be baked in commercial ovens in larger batches. In Belton, she worked in a French bakery refining her fine baking techniques.
Tammy lived out her fervent Christian life as a member of the Salvation Army Women's Auxilliary and as a Soldier in the Memphis and Belton Salvation Army community churches (Corps). She and Rick were actively involved in the men and women's rehabilitation missions for their communities.
In retirement, Tammy loved baking, home decorating, gardening, boating, and driving her converted 45 ft bus as she and Rick followed her dad across the country in his bus.
Tammy is survived by her husband Rick Bartley, father Herbert Bates. sisters Linda and Terri, brothers Michael and Herb. Tammy has 5 nieces, 4 nephews, 7 great-nieces, 3 great-nephews, 2 stepdaughters and 3 grandsons.
Preceding Tammy in death are her mother Jo-Ann Bates, and infant sister Holly-Ann.
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