Elsbeth Gearhart Bellemere (better known as Beth or "Aunt Beth") passed away on October 2nd, 2023.  She was born in Reading, Pennsylvania on April 16, 1939, the daughter of Benjamin Stanley Bellemere (died 1980) and Elsbeth Eckert Gearhart Bellemere (died 1999).

Beth excelled in school and after graduating from Skidmore College in New York, she taught elementary age students in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.  In Pennsylvania she became part of a 3-member team, teaching in a block system, taking students from 3rd to 4th grade in a 2-year journey in learning.  From there she supervised student teachers at the Antioch-Putney Graduate School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and later became a principal in New Hampshire and finally a Curriculum Coordinator K-12 in Scarborough, Maine.  She was an intensely creative educator.

Even as an administrator she loved teaching and presented multiple math workshops for teachers throughout Maine.  She used a "hands-on" approach using a multitude of educational activity-based techniques.

Beth became interested in a multi-age innovative approach for elementary aged students and headed a trip to England in 1987, with her Scarborough teachers, to study this system.  She was successful in incorporating this approach in the Scarborough School District, known as the G.O.L.D. Program, which stands for Group Optimal Learning Development.

After retirement, she lived her remaining years in Maine, continuing with her varied interests: The Portland Museum of Art, the Portland Players, the Orchestra, the Land Trust, the Scarborough Public Library, and her beloved Cairn Terriers.  She spent a good part of her summer for years at her cottage in Cushing and donated "the Lion's Head" by Bernard Langlais to the Langlais Sculpture Preserve in Cushing.

Beth is survived by her cousin Judi Wren, and her Goddaughter, Sarah Elliott.  She will be laid to rest in the family plot at the Charles Evans Cemetery in Reading, Pennsylvania along with her parents and grandparents.

Donations in her honor may be sent to the Scarborough Public Library, 48 Gorham Road, Scarborough, Maine 04074 or the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland 217 Landing Rd, Westbrook ME 04092.