Beatrice R. Putnam

Beatrice R. Putnam
1930 – 2023
Beatrice Putnam, 92, passed away on Mar 8, 2023. She had for years been living with the effects of multiple sclerosis and was being well cared for at the Grafton County Nursing Home. Here, she enjoyed life as much as she could, laughing and chatting with her caregivers, working on puzzles, and having faith that, ultimately, she would be reunited with her family.
Bea was born at home on the family farm in West Newbury, VT on Putnam Lane, the youngest of five children of Agnes Leighton Putnam and Ned Putnam. She attended the one room school in West Newbury and then Newbury High School. Bea was an excellent student, graduating in 1948 as Valedictorian in a class of 11 students. She was also a star basketball player. She received the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Good Citizen Award her graduating year. Bea was a descendant of General Jacob Bayley, one of the persons to whom the Newbury Town charter was granted in 1763.
After graduation she was employed by the Bradford National Bank (now Community Bank) for over 50 years until her retirement as Assistant Cashier, where she was highly respected and appreciated. She was very active in the West Newbury Congregational Church, singing in the choir, teaching Sunday School, and working on the Women’s Fellowship dinners and festivals. She served as the church treasurer for more 50 years and, for a period of time, organized the organist schedule. She enjoyed singing in the North Country Chorus for several years. Largely, Bea spent her free time tending to duties at home, but she did enjoy traveling to Europe with her sister-in-law, Aroline, in 1956, and she spent one year as a nanny in California. One time, she drove by herself to the top of Mt. Washington, surely at that time an adventurous and thrilling solo drive.
Bea was strong, athletic, and independent. She would take long walks in the woods in all seasons. In the winter, she would tuck her wool pants into her Bean boots, put on her snowshoes and stride along on the trail to Round Pond and through the fields and sugarbush. She would cut up large pieces of cardboard for her visiting nieces and nephews and go sledding with them down the steep open banks along the edges of the fields. In the other seasons, she worked in the vegetable gardens, and the apple orchard and put up all the produce for the winter. She split wood for the kindling box and kept that full for the wood-burning kitchen stove. When she was in her late sixties, and feeling the effects of her disease, she did the strenuous hike up Camel’s Hump. When she learned about her multiple sclerosis diagnosis, she said the hardest part was having to give up her independence – that she had always been able to do everything for herself, and the MS required her, for the first time, to be dependent on others.
Family was important to her. It was a tradition in her mother’s family to send out the “Leighton Letters”, which would be started by one person and mailed around to all the family in order for them to keep in touch. Bea was always a contributor to the letter chain. Every Christmas, she would produce a lavish dinner for the whole family, sometimes 14 or 15 people, including special cakes such as Baked Alaska. She also made the world’s best homemade ice cream for all the family picnics. In later years, she
devoted herself to taking care of her oldest brother and her sister at the family farm as their health declined.
Bea was a quiet and very humble person and did not approve of vanity, but she had quite a large and very stunning collection of fancy hats for going to church and to town. She had a quiet, but elegant and dignified presence that was unlike anyone else. She was not a chatty person, but she loved to listen and laugh to others’ stories and news. She had a large laugh and a big smile. At the Grafton Nursing Home, Bea would laugh with her caregivers and spend time with them doing puzzles, which she had always enjoyed at home. She couldn’t use her arms, but from her wheelchair, she would spot a piece on the table that she could see the place for and direct a helper to choose it and insert it where it belonged. She had a measure of happiness there.
Bea was predeceased by all her siblings. She is survived by her sister-in-law, Aroline Putnam; her five nieces and nephews, Nathan, Lindsay, Joyce, and Mark Putnam and Alison Putnam Carey; a large number of grand and great-grand nieces and nephews; and two cousins, Betty Leighton Tiffany and Sandra Gillen.
The family is sincerely appreciative of the special care, consideration, and empathy given to Bea by all her caregivers - at home, at the Bradford Oasis, and then at the Grafton County Nursing Home. Special thanks to Becky Christian who came regularly to visit with and do special things for Bea when she was still determined to live at home at the farm.
A memorial service celebrating Bea’s life will be held at the West Newbury Church on April 1st, at 11:00 A.M., to which all are invited. A committal service at the Newbury Town House Cemetery will be held later in May. Hale’s Funeral Home in Bradford is in charge of arrangements.