Spring 2006 Alumnae Quarterly Web Extra
Web Extra: Tributes to Recently Deceased MHC Faculty
Memories of the late Dr. Robert F. Berkey
[This tribute appeared in the spring issue of the Alumnae Quarterly]
Robert F. Berkey, professor emeritus of religion, died December 23, 2005, in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Berkey was born in Barberton, Ohio, and graduated from Otterbein College. He received two advanced degrees from the Graduate School of Theology at Oberlin College, and earned a Ph.D. in biblical studies from Hartford Seminary. In 1958, Berkey came to Mount Holyoke to teach in the religion department. He retired in 1999 after forty years of teaching there, having served as chairman of the department for many of those years. Berkey coauthored two books, Christological Perspectives and Christianity in Dialogue.
In addition to his teaching work, Berkey was a minister in the United Church of Christ, and was a guest preacher in area churches. He also served as a frequent tour leader and lecturer for Maupintour’s “Lands of the Bible travel program, and led a Smith/Mount Holyoke traveling seminar, “In the Steps of St. Paul,” which visited New Testament sites. Berkey was an honorary member of the MHC classes of 1930, 1934, 1952, 1961, 1965, 1969, and 1971.
Berkey is survived by his wife, Carolyn Miller Berkey, an honorary MHC alumna who was executive director of the Alumnae Association from 1981 to 1988, and received the Association’s Medal of Honor in 1987. Berkey is also survived by two sons and their families, as well as by his sister, Betty Berkey Woodall.
Memories of the late Dr. Elizabeth Margaret (Bessie) Boyd
[This tribute appeared in the spring issue of the Alumnae Quarterly]
Elizabeth Margaret “Bessie” Boyd MA’33, professor emeritus of biological sciences at MHC, died January 23, in Bradenton, Florida, at the age of 97. Born in Britain in 1908, Boyd graduated from Edinburgh University with Bsc. honors and class medals. She received her M.A. in zoology from Mount Holyoke in 1933, and received her Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1946.
Boyd taught at Edinburgh and McGill Universities, and in 1937 joined the faculty at Mount Holyoke, eventually becoming professor of zoology. Boyd discovered many new species of parasites, including a mite that resides in the sinuses of birds. For many years she was a director of the Massachusetts Audubon Society and a fellow in tropical medicine. She traveled extensively, including a trip to the Galapagos Islands.
Boyd retired from teaching in 1973 and later moved to Florida. She volunteered at Blake Hospital, was an elder at Westminster Presbyterian Church, and helped establish the MHC Alumnae Club of Southwest Florida. She was also on the Nominating Committee for the Alumnae Association from 1975 to 1978. She is survived by two nieces (including Sue Boyd, 41 Church Road, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol B59 3EQ, England), two nephews, and their families, all of whom reside in Great Britain.
[This tribute was written by Susie Beers Betzer ’65.]
Bessie Boyd, an amazing Scotswoman who was denied a medical education in her home country, but came to South Hadley for her master’s degree at MHC and returned to teach zoology from 1937 to 1973 (after earning her PhD in bird parasitology at Cornell), died in Bradenton, Florida, on January 23.
I had the privilege of attending her memorial service there, at her retirement home “The Shores.” The service was completely planned by her, including her minister dressed in a kilt, a bagpiper, and her own selected hymns. It had to be moved from the chapel to the big social room because of the size of the crowd.
Bessie was the professor who changed me from a French major to a zoology major—“Baby Zoo” was a fascinating course—which launched my career in oceanography and eventually, medicine. She also turned me into a lifelong birdwatcher with her ornithology course and early morning spring bird walks around Upper Lake. In 2004 I visited her at her retirement home with classmate Barbara Holtz and my daughter Katherine ’04. Bessie took us on a complete guided tour of her building, ending in her apartment, where she pointed out the window to a big pine tree and said “Do you know what that is?” Of course, I quoted back to her her 1966 memory aid: “Osprey—black above and white below”—right outside her window on a branch.
At the service I learned that after her 1973 retirement, Bessie had continued to be the dynamo we knew in South Hadley (to which she had returned to throw herself a big 90th birthday party). She was a hospital volunteer who once told a whiny seventy-five-year-old male patient bemoaning his age, “Stop complaining; I’m 90 years old and I’m pushing you in this wheelchair!” She loved opera and to each board of trustees meeting brought her own silver tea service for refreshment time. She started a coffee hour in her Presbyterian church thirty years ago— they can’t imagine how they did without it. After a change of ministers she finally convinced her new minister to try a Scottish service once a year—with kilts and bagpipers—and it was so wildly successful that not only is it an annual tradition, but now also comes with luncheon and sixty-person golf tournament! At The Shores she started a recycling program which has earned them the county-wide environmental award two years running. There was a great story told of the time she put the leftover beer cans into the trunk of her car after a big party there—and forgot them (in the Florida heat) until her next trip to the grocery, when she opened the trunk to an unforgettable stench!
The assisted living director at The Shores told of her weekly reviews in writing from Bessie, including both compliments for staff and programs and ways they could improve. When she moved into the assisted section of the building, she read the long manual closely, called in the ALF director, and informed her that the manual said that laundry was free, but that residents were being charged $20 per month: “It seems that you need to change either the policy or the manual!” Since then, laundry has been free for all the ALF residents. She embodied the maxim that one motivated individual can change the world.
A final story: She was social chair at The Shores for years until she broke her hip about three years ago. We learned of a memorable New Year’s Eve party which included “Father Time,” a live baby, and at midnight, a conga line snaking through the lobby, led by Bessie herself!
Bessie had a distinguished academic career and discovered many new species of bird parasites including a mite which lives in the sinus of birds, now named for her, the genus Boydia. She was devoted to her Scottish family and met them at the airport on their visit to Florida each year, armed with a clipboard listing all the activities they would do on their two weeks together. Bessie was devoted to MHC and to music, and she established several scholarships, including one for students in choral groups for their travel in the US and abroad. A year ago, the MHC orchestra and chorus came to Sarasota, and during the concert, three students came down from the stage to lay an armload of flowers in her lap—they had been brought there using her funds—so her gift came back to her. She was smiling from ear to ear. This past year with the Katrina disaster she called the MHC development office and asked that some of her other funds be released to benefit students who had been affected by the storm.
So, as you can see, she was alert and creative to the end. What a privilege to have known this remarkable woman!
