Beatrice M. Barad

Beatrice Miriam Barad (nee Krival) died on Monday, 18 August at her Delaware Township home in the loving company of her husband and daughter. She was 91.

Known as “Bea” to family and friends, she was a graduate of Hunter College and the only one of her siblings born in the United States. She married Dr. Gerald “Jerry” Barad in 1946 after a long courtship that started in summer camp where they met as young teenagers. Bea and Jerry grew up in Brooklyn and moved to Hunterdon County in the late 1950s where they raised four children. When they first moved to the Flemington area the young dark-haired girl made quite an impression with her black leotard and tights, dark eyes and ponytail.

Trained as a laboratory technician and first employed at Cornell Medical Center, Bea worked at the Hunterdon Medical Center before retiring in the 1960s to become a full-time wife and mother. Always eager to explore new places and experiences, Bea traveled with Jerry across the United States and to over forty countries on six continents, meeting diverse people with whom she built many enduring friendships. Through 68 years of marriage, Bea encouraged her husband in his recreational interests, especially the collection and cultivation of cacti and other succulent plants.

Proud of her urban roots, Bea also cherished her adopted rural life. She supported many Hunterdon County civic organizations over the years, including the Parent-Teacher Association, 4-H, Flemington Jewish Community Center and Hunterdon Medical Center Foundation. An independent thinker with a strong sense of ethics and fairness, Bea never forgot her family’s experience as refugee immigrants; she taught her children to see both sides of every issue and to champion the rights of the persecuted and less privileged.

Beatrice is survived by her husband Gerald and children David, Dorothy and Robert. Her second child, Richard, died in 1985. She is the beloved grandmother of Alexis, Justin, Ashley, Leah, Noah, Aaron, Richard and Samuel, and great grandmother of Julien and Gavriel. She endured her recent illness with practicality and courage. Her family is grateful for the thoughtful care and loving support of friends who helped through the challenging last weeks.

Bea lived her life fully. Though we mourn her, we remember her mantra “Life is for the living” – though as her granddaughter Alexis said so well, “I liked that expression better when it was coming from her.”

A Funeral Service will be held at 1:30 p.m., Thursday, August 21, 2014 in the Flemington Jewish Community Center, Flemington, NJ. Interment will follow in the Flemington Jewish Community Center Cemetery, Capner Street, Flemington, NJ under the direction of the Holcombe-Fisher Funeral Home, 147 Main Street, Flemington, NJ.

Memorial contributions in Beatrice's name may be made to the Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund c/o Flemington Jewish Community Center, 5 Sergeantsville Road, Flemington, New Jersey 08822.

Please visit www.holcombefisher.com for further information or to leave a condolence for the family.