Wendy Bergman

1943 - 2024

Wendy Bergman
02/26/1943 - 09/26/2013
Wendy Street Bergman, age 81, passed away on September 26, 2024. She was born on February 26, 1943 in Denver, Colorado to Dr. Bernard and Ms. Mary Lou Street, the second daughter in a family of four children.
Wendy and her family moved to Northfield, Minnesota when her father Bernard established a medical practice there following his service as a medical doctor in the United States Army. After graduating from Northfield High School, Wendy entered Carleton College, located in the same town, and met her husband Robert ("Bob") Bergman there; they were married in the Street home in 1965, shortly after Wendy's graduation. Bob had graduated from Carleton two years earlier and was pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin. Wendy joined him there where she completed an M.A. in Education; her program included a stint as a student teacher in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.
Following the completion of her studies in Madison in 1967, Wendy and her husband moved to New York City, where Wendy served as a junior high school teacher in Nyack, NY. A year later they moved across the country to Pasadena, CA where Wendy served as an administrative assistant at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Following the births of her sons Michael ("Mike") and David ("Dave") she participated extensively in the parent organization and fund-raising activities of Mother's Club Family Learning Center in Pasadena and later at Noyes Elementary School in Altadena, CA. She and her family loved their change in climate and spent many happy hours at Southern California beaches and, in the winter, skiing at Mammoth Lakes in the Sierra.
After moving north to the Bay Area in 1979, Wendy's growing interest in early childhood education led to her active participation in Hilltop Elementary School in Kensington, where her boys were enrolled. Later she obtained her CA teaching certificate at UC Berkeley, and then was employed as a full-time teacher at Manzanita Community Elementary School in Oakland. Wendy maintained regular contact with many of her teaching certificate classmates who have remained in the Bay Area.
While she was employed and even after she retired, Wendy's strong interest in contributing her effort to the community around her continued, especially with organizations dedicated to education. She participated extensively in parent organizations at Noyes School and later at El Cerrito High School. She participated in the Read Aloud Volunteer Program at West Contra Costa County Schools and in CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) of Contra Costa, spending many hours working on the education and well-being of mostly disadvantaged kids in the county. She was a long-time volunteer at the Turnabout Shop in El Cerrito, which collected donated clothes and other items to support the Berkeley Clinic Auxiliary.
Encouraged by her mother Mary Lou and sister Susan, Wendy became a member of the P.E.O. Chapter EL, a philanthropic educational organization where women help women to achieve their educational goals through scholarships. Wendy's friendship and love for her sisters in the P.E.O. chapter extended throughout her life.
Wendy was consistently kind and thoughtful and always responded positively to requests for help. She was a consummate cook, amassing several hundred recipes, the large majority of which were in her own handwriting. She loved to entertain family and friends. Wendy struggled with slowly increasing dementia during the last nine years of her life, but almost to the end she did not fail to brighten when family or friends, or even people she hadn't yet met, came to see her. She could not walk by flowers without remarking about how beautiful they were, and she could never walk by a small child without initiating a cheerful conversation with them.
Wendy is survived by her children David and Michael, their wives Christa and Elizabeth, her husband Robert, her siblings Susan and Bernard, and her grandchildren Darren and McCovey. Plans are underway for a memorial service in Kensington, which will be held both in person and by real time videocast, sometime in January. Information about exact time and location will be sent to Wendy's family and friends.
We miss her profoundly. In lieu of flowers, please join us in making donation(s) to the BASIS program of Community Resources for Science (Bay Area).