Beverly Jean Bertelmann

Just before dawn broke on Thursday, May 15, 2025, Beverly Jean Bertelmann, who seemingly appeared to be in perpetual motion throughout her 93 years of life, passed away reluctantly but peacefully while her family maintained a bedside vigil. The comfort care provided by her fellow nurses at Shady Grove Medical Center and then Casey House, the Montgomery (County) Hospice facility in Rockville, Maryland, began shortly after she suffered a massive stroke at her home the previous Saturday, May 10.

Like a pioneer's child, Jean was born in her paternal grandparents' farmhouse in Arkwright, a tiny village in far western New York State, on March 10, 1932, against the stark backdrop of a blinding blizzard. The Great Depression was at its low point and in this isolated, rural hamlet there was no electricity, phone, nor indoor plumbing. Three years later, her parents moved Jeannie, as she was known in her youth, and her three brothers to their own home in nearby Dunkirk, NY. Nonetheless, her grandparents' homestead would always be her emotional touchstone.

Although naturally and fiercely independent, she learned early to appreciate how small acts of kindness can help others realize their full potential. Among the people who supported Jean profoundly and set examples for her to follow later were her grandfather C. Austin Thies, her Aunt Grace and Uncle Gerald "Bud" Thies, her Aunt Sophie (Lucas) and Uncle Frank Barrett, and a Fredonia (N.Y.) High School guidance counselor named Sidney M. Frost.

As the Class of 1950 prepared to graduate, Mr. Frost's encouragement drove her to apply to the nursing program at Edward J. Meyer Memorial Hospital despite the financial hardship. An affiliate of the University of Buffalo and the predecessor to the Erie County Medical Center, it was widely regarded as one of the nation's best medical training facilities. Jean was elected president of her class each of its three years, graduating in 1953 to work as a registered nurse over the next five decades.

Resolving to experience alluring New York City, in 1954 she accepted an offer at nearby Stamford Hospital on Connecticut's Gold Coast. There she met her husband Dick Bertelmann, an announcer at a nearby radio station. They married on November 19, 1955, and immediately relocated to Hartford where he would establish a long, prominent media career under the professional name Dick Bertel.

As Mr. and Mrs. Bertel, together they would enjoy the company of major celebrities within the political, entertainment, and academic worlds, both in southern New England and around Washington, DC, and when his work presented an opportunity for them to live in Munich, Germany, from 1991 to 1993, she relished traveling across Europe, inviting friends and relatives to join them there for continental adventures.

But she was most comfortable in her own right as multifaceted Jean Bertelmann ---career nurse, wife, mother, aunt, sister, friend, church member, and neighbor--- raising her family in Wethersfield, Conn., until 1985 when she relocated with Dick to Gaithersburg, MD. When he passed away in 2023, they had been married for more than 67 years.

In her retirement, which began in 1996, Jean proved herself to be a loving grandmother and great-grandmother. In addition, she was an enthusiastic participant of The Hospitality and Information Service (THIS) as well as the Gaithersburg Area Newcomers Club (GANC) which she served as president in 2001 and 2002. And as both a lifelong advocate for civil rights and a founding congregant of the United Church of Christ of Seneca Valley, she devoted herself to the charge of the Benedictine blessing to "tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people."

As typical throughout her life, she was busy with all this and more through the end of an ordinary spring Friday. Then, as she rested from running errands to prepare a place in her home for loved ones to reunite in the days ahead, she was led instead toward her heavenly reward, much as Jesus had promised his disciples in John 14:2-4.

Beverly Jean (Thies) Bertelmann was predeceased by her husband Richard E. Bertelmann, her father George Thies, her mother Mary (Lucas) Thies, and her brothers Harry, Charles, and Walter Thies. In addition to numerous friends and relatives, survivors include her children Darcy Bertelmann of Gettysburg, PA; Jim Bertelmann of Fairfax, VA; Susan Rau of Leesburg, VA, and her husband Michael; Doug Bertelmann of Fort Mill, SC, and his wife Lynette; Jean's grandson Justin Otis, his wife Jen, and their sons Caleb and Brady, all of Collegeville, PA; her granddaughter Allison Onkst, her husband Drew, and their children Piper and Rowdy, all of Dillsburg, PA; her grandsons Ethan and Trevor Rau, both of Arlington, VA; her cousins Joyce Smyrski and Lorraine Spekczynski, both of Cary, NC; and many dear nephews and nieces across the country.

A memorial service will be held at the United Church of Christ of Seneca Valley in Germantown, MD, at 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 3. It will be livestreamed. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donating instead to the church at uccsenecavalley.org/donate or to Autism Speaks at www.autismspeaks.org/?form=donate. Please sign the family guestbook at: