CECELIA "SIS" MARGARET BERTE,87, of Colonial Gardens, was called to heaven on November 29, 2012.
Born in Pittsfield, December 26, 1924, the daughter of Napoleon and Cecelia
Callanan Trembley, she was a 1944 graduate of Pittsfield High School where she also
completed a post-graduate course in retail sales.
Mrs. Berte began her working career as a telephone operator for New England
Telephone & Telegraph.
From 1959 to 1974, she was employed by Zayre Corporation as an internal
auditor.
For the next few years, she worked for several physicians as a nanny and
caregiver for their children.
In 1980, Mrs. Berte went to work for Berkshire Medical Center where she was a
switchboard operator and supervisor of the Gift Shop, and also volunteered her time as a
receptionist in the Intensive Care Unit. She retired from there in 2002.
From 1998 until its closing due to funding in 2003, Mrs Berte served as the
director of the Coltsville Community Police Center. While there, she was instrumental in
revitalizing West Memorial Park on Cheshire Road, was facilitator of the Neighborhood
Crime Watch programs in the Coltsville and Allendale sections of the City, as well as
Coordinated the annual National Night Out Against Crime celebrations. She was also a
member of the City's Police-Citizens Advisory Commission.
She was a communicant of St. Agnes Church and a former communicant of St.
Mary the Morning Star Church where she was a member of its Family Society and sang
in its choir. She was also a member of the Telephone Pioneers and the Retired Senior
Volunteer Program.
Her husband, John E. Berte, Jr., whom she married September 1, 1956, died
July 25, 1965.
Mrs. Berte is survived by a brother, Paul G. Tembley and his wife Evelyn of Pittsfield; and three
sisters, Pauline F. Moon, Olive M. Levesque, and Dorothy A. Bence, all of
Pittsfield. Mrs. Berte also leaves seventeen nieces and nephews and twenty-seven grand
nieces and nephews, as well as her godchildren, Matt and Amy Stowe. She was pre-deceased by a grand nephew, David Moon.

FUNERAL NOTICE: Funeral services for CECELIA "SIS" MARGARET BERTE, who died November 29, 2012 will be held Monday at 8:15 AM from DERY FUNERAL HOME in Pittsfield, with a Liturgy of Christian Burial at 9;00 AM at St. Agnes Church in Dalton celebrated by Rev. Christopher A. Malatesta, Pastor.
Burial will follow in St. Joseph's Cemetery. Calling hours will be Sunday from 1:00 to
3:00 p.m., at the Dery Funeral Home in Pittsfield. In lieu of flowers, contributions in memory of Mrs. Berte may be made to St. Agnes Church in care of the Funeral Home, 54 Bradford Street, Pittsfield.

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