Betty J. “Betsy” Sapp, a former flight attendant who later became director of special events at Goucher College, died April 19 of ovarian cancer at Mercy Medical Center. The Hydes resident was 81.

The daughter of Harry Herbert Hayes, a railway postal clerk and inventor, and Clara Jane Clements Hayes, a homemaker, Betty Jane Hayes was born and raised in Cincinnati, where she graduated in 1953 from Walnut Hills High School.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in 1957 from Miami University of Ohio, where she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, she worked for a year as an American Airlines stewardess.

In 1958, she married Ronald E. Sapp, who later became director of giving at the Johns Hopkins University.

After her children started school in the late 1960s, she became a kindergarten teacher at Epiphany Episcopal Church in Lutherville.

In 1974, Mrs. Sapp was named director of special events at Goucher College, where she also was manager of the popular Concert Series.

After retiring from Goucher in 1988, she earned her real estate license and worked for Coldwell Banker in the firm’s Jacksonville office in Baltimore County.

A longtime resident of Turtlebrook Farm in Hydes, Mrs. Sapp was an avid outdoorswoman and enjoyed hunting, fishing and equestrian activities.

She was a breeder of purebred show and hunting dogs and thoroughbred racehorses, and was a longtime member of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association.

One of her most successful horses, family members said, was It’s Time to Smile, who ran in the Pennsylvania Derby, Indiana Derby and the Ohio Derby.

She and her husband enjoyed wintering in Islamarada, Fla., where she was an active member of St. James the Fisherman Episcopal Church.

Mrs. Sapp was also an active communicant of St. James Episcopal Church, 3100 Monkton Road, where a memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. today.

In addition to her husband of 59 years, she is survived by two sons, Michael Sapp of Westminster and Gregory Sapp of Dulaney Valley; two daughters, Shawn Sapp Nocher of Roland Park and Jennifer Sapp of Arnold; a sister, Diane Slenker of Daleville, Ala.; 10 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

frasmussen@baltsun.com