Dorothy Bertsche

Dorothy Hoffman Bertsche

BERTSCHE, Dorothy Hoffman died peacefully on August 24, 2014 at the age of 96. She was born to Naomi and Richard Hoffman in Covington, Ky in 1918 and raised in Norwood, Ohio. She was the wife of William John Bertsche, who died in 1979. Dorothy is survived by her son William R. (Camilla) of Mystic, Conn. and their children: Kathleen, of Berkeley Calif., and William (Cristina Soriano Salinas) of Geneva, Switzerland; and her daughter Carol Stegeman (Robert) of Williamstown, Mass., and their two sons: Adam (Shannon), of South Stoke, England, and Samuel (Leslie Chaison), of Conway, Mass.  She was a proud great-grandmother of four Stegeman great-grandchildren: Emma (15), Owen (13), Elias (11), and Rosa (7). Her brother Richard Louis Hoffmann died earlier this year at the age of 93. She leaves her step-sister Ruth Thompson Lewis of Milford and special friend and companion for the last years of her life, Ann Gebhart of Cincinnati.

Dorothy attended Norwood High School until 1935, then attended the University of Cincinnati where she majored in Applied Arts and was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority.  At UC she met and married William Bertsche in 1940 and moved to Rochester, NY. Upon returning to Cincinnati, after her husband served in WWI, Dorothy became partner in the family’s company, B & W Sales, and worked alongside her husband until she sold the company in 1981. She was a long-time leader to a Girl Scout troop that was one of the first to travel to Europe in 1959, a member of the church choir at St. Peter and St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in Westwood for 50 years, and volunteer at the Museum of Natural History for 30 years after her retirement from business.

A service in celebration of her life will be held at St. Peter and St. Paul United Church of Christ in Westwood on Queen City Ave, on Saturday, September 6, at 3 PM. In lieu of flowers a contribution may be made in memory of William and Dorothy Bertsche, to the Museum of Natural History and Science of Cincinnati Museum Center, 1301 Western Ave Cincinnati, OH 45203.