SHERBURNE – Beverly Ann Nessel Au, 80, of Sherburne, passed away Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008 in the Bassett Hospital of Cooperstown.
The daughter of Gilbert James and Edna Austin Martin Nessel, Beverly was born in July of 1928 in Rome, N.Y. Her elementary and high school years were in Rome, where she graduated from Rome Free Academy in 1946. She continued her education by attending Keuka College, where she majored in religious education, graduating in 1951. In the summer of 1949, while serving on a Methodist Youth Caravan, Beverly met William Y.W. Au and on Aug. 9, 1952 at Calvary Methodist Church in Rome, she and Bill were married.
Beverly lived in several states as she moved together with Bill to various parts of the country where Bill’s occupation took him. Characteristically, wherever she and her family live, she always managed to work to serve and better her community and the people in them. Following her graduation from Keuka, she served as Director of Christian Education at First Presbyterian Church in Little Falls and at Phillips Congregational Church in Watertown, Mass. This was where she truly earned her “PHT” (putting husband through) medical school in Boston.
During the period from 1955 to 1965, Beverly lovingly raised her children and provided much support to Bill as he completed his medical residency and fellowships in Syracuse, Bethesda, Md. and his two years active duty with the U.S. Air Force Medical Corps. From 1963 to 1976, Bev lived in Henrietta, where she worked in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry as an editorial assistant, compiling and revising an important text, “Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products.” Through all of this, she was always with her children as they went through their school years, being a mother, a taxi driver, supporter of sports, dancing, music, Girl Scout leader, Sunday School teacher and many others too numerous to mention. While living in Henrietta, Bev was very active in the life and services of Christ View United Methodist Church, serving on education committees, teaching Sunday School and with Methodist Women and Adult Fellowship groups.
From 1976 through 1984, Bev lived in Little Rock, Ark. where she served as Church Secretary for Trinity United Methodist Church. She was very active in Trinity UMC, United Methodist Women, Work Area on Education, Adult Fellowship Group and Bell Choir. A service she enjoyed greatly was to lead a group of women to craft needle-point Christian symbols cushions for the Sanctuary communion altar.
In 1984, Bev and Bill moved to Sherburne where she became an active participant in various groups in the Sherburne/Norwich area. She became very active in the Broad Street United Methodist Church, the Norwich Garden Club and weekly bridge groups in the Sherburne and Norwich area for over 20 years. During the 1990s, she served the needle craft people of the region as a partner/owner of Needle Arts Unlimited, a retail store on South Broad Street in Norwich. Within the Broad Street United Methodist Church, she served as a lay leader, financial secretary, on the adult education committee and had served as President and Secretary/Treasurer of the United Methodist Women. She greatly enjoyed working with the church women in completing the counted cross-stitched Christmon pieces for the Christmas tree in the Sanctuary. She also helped out in the church office and enjoyed playing in the bell choir. Bev faithfully attended the Norwich Garden Club meetings and had served as President as well as other official positions and on the Combined Garden Clubs committee for the Flower Show exhibits at the Chenango County Fair.
Bev enjoyed needle-art craft work, especially counted cross stitch, needlepoint, knitting with various yarns and teaching those crafts to others. During the period when Needle Arts Unlimited was opened, it became a socialization as well as an activity center for women in the area. She obtained great satisfaction to have provided the needle crafters of Chenango County to be able to obtain locally material for their needle-art crafts.
Throughout all her work, church and community activities, Beverly always set her primary “job” to that revolving around the activities and love for her family, a loving wife, mother and grandmother; sharing joyfully in their accomplishments and successes and supporting them in troubled times. She was tops as a homemaker who cared much for the close-knit family that she created with her loving life.
Beverly is survived by her husband William Y.W. Au, MD of Sherburne; her children Virginia (Ginger) Savage and her husband Steven of Merrimack, N.H., William (Bill) Gilbert Au of Sherburne, Cynthia (Cindy) Rosenberg and her husband Bruce of Germantown, Md. and Elizabeth (Liz) Martinsen and husband Robert of West Linn, Ore.; her grandchildren Nicholas Savage of Springfield, Ohio, Daniel Rosenberg of Bethesda, Md., Allison Rosenberg of Mountain View, Calif., Jennifer Rosenberg of Germantown, Md., Melanie and Annaliese Martinsen, both of West Linn, Ore. and her sister Phyllis Holeck of Verona.
Funeral services for Beverly will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday from the Broad Street United Methodist Church of Norwich. The Rev. Jeff Hale, pastor, will officiate. Interment will be at a later date in the Carmichael Hill Cemetery in the Town of Western.
Friends may call from 6 to 8 p.m. on Monday at the R.J. Fahy Funeral Home.
Please consider memorial contributions to the Broad Street Methodist Church, 74 North Broad Street, Norwich, NY 13815.