Beatrice D. Olmstead

BEATRICE D. OLMSTEAD
ITHACA - Beatrice D. Olmstead of Ithaca, NY died peacefully at Cayuga Medical Center on Friday afternoon, June 6, 2008 at age 97. She was buried on June 10, at Mt. St. Mary's Cemetery in Flushing, NY after a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Mary's Nativity Church.
She is survived and celebrated by her four children and their spouses, Thea Olmstead of Boston, MA; Brian Olmstead and Carol Wasserman of Nahant MA; Lenore Olmstead of Ithaca, NY; and Terence and Sheila Olmstead of St. Louis, MO; her five grandchildren, Caitlin Fleck of Horsham, PA; Liam Galbreth of Piedmont, CA; Colleen Kabir Tilford of Webster Groves, MO; and Brendan Baranek Olmstead and Conor Olmstead, both of Nahant, MA; her six great-grandchildren, Joshua Fleck, the late Shayne Fleck, Maya Galbreth, Kieran Tilford, Julian Tilford and Dylan Galbreth; as well as nieces, nephews, cousins, and many caring friends. Her husband, Frederic Bellows Olmstead, and her two brothers, Clement and Joseph, predeceased her.
Born at home on December 4, 1910, in Brooklyn, NY, of parents Joseph M. Jenks and Amalie Heiberg, Beatrice attended Catholic schools and graduated from St. Agnes High School in College Point, NY. She worked as a secretary in various positions in New York City and, aspiring to be a writer, attended night classes at Columbia University. Beatrice first visited Ireland, Norway, and England in 1932. She was faithful to her heritage and maintained strong ties with her father's family in Ireland and her mother's family in Norway throughout her life.
Beatrice married Frederic on August 29, 1936 at the Church of the Presentation BVM in Jamaica, NY. They moved to Franklin Square, Long Island, NY in 1941, where they raised their four children and centered their life around the family until Frederic's sudden death in 1968, during a trip to Ireland. Beatrice moved to West Topsham, VT in 1970 and worked for five years at National Life of Vermont in Montpelier. She later moved to Sherburne, NY, Rockland, ME, Ithaca, NY, St. Louis, MO, returning to Ithaca in 1998 to live at McGraw House.
Beatrice loved reading and read widely, especially in theology. She was active in many Catholic groups, including Small Christian Communities at Immaculate Conception Church in Ithaca, NY. She enjoyed gardening, sewing, decorating her home, flower arranging, her doll collection, and the company of her many cat and dog companions over the years. She was a prodigious correspondent and early on traveled vicariously by writing to the parents of her children's far-flung pen pals. She loved to travel and in 1994 at age 82 fulfilled a childhood ambition to travel to China. Her dream was to spend more time at a cottage in Donegal, whose beauty she loved.
Beatrice was so impressed with the contemplative writings of Thomas Merton that she wrote to him in 1948; he replied, which began a 20-year correspondence with this Trappist monk known to the family as Father Louis. Beatrice and family finally met him for a joyful visit in the summer of 1961 at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. Beatrice read and studied all of Merton's works and he remained her spiritual mentor throughout her life.
Beatrice was silly and serious, always with a warm, generous, welcoming smile. She imbued her children and family with the spirit of the Irish, a love of language and music, a sense of humor, the value of service, and the ineffable hospitality of the Irish. Her optimism instilled a sense of curiosity, courage, and a willingness to venture forth to meet the unexpected. She valued the importance of learning and ensured that her children had the benefits of a good education.
A memorial gathering will be held at McGraw House, 221 S. Geneva St., Ithaca on Saturday, July 12, at 2 p.m. For more information about the memorial, contact Lenore Olmstead at 607-272-2671. Memorial contributions in Beatrice's memory may be made to either the Abbey of Gethsemani, 3642 Monks Rd., Trappist, KY 40051, or to the Tompkins County SPCA Animal Shelter, 1640 Hanshaw Rd., Ithaca, NY 14850. The family extends special thanks to the extremely dedicated, caring home health aides who helped Beatrice after she suffered a stroke in 2005, and to the McGraw House staff for their unfailing support. The family was assisted by Herson Funeral Home of Ithaca.