On September 9, our community lost a prominent member as Bernice Tretheway passed away at age 105. Bernice and her husband, Martin, moved to Stevensville in 1951, and she quickly became involved in our community in many big ways. She served as the first President of the Lakeshore Parent Teacher Student Association, secretary to the Lakeshore Excellence Foundation, Lincoln Township clerk, Lincoln Township supervisor, Berrien County Register of Deeds, president of the Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce, president of the Executive & Professional Women’s Club of Southwest Michigan, treasurer of the Friends of Berrien County Shriners, and more.
Bernice was also heavily involved with Lincoln Township Public Library; in fact, we really can’t write the story of the library without including her in it. She was part of the group that helped to establish the precursor to the library, when Stevensville High School hosted a temporary summer library in their gymnasium in 1958. Books for that library were provided by Lakeshore Elementary Schools, the Library of Michigan, the Stevensville Women’s Club, and other area residents. When Lincoln Township established a permanent library the following year, Bernice served on the Board. She was also a member of the Friends of the Lincoln Township Library and served as its secretary.
The library would experience tremendous growth in the coming years. Bernice would serve on the library board until 1963, and after that she continued to be involved in other ways. She continued to be active with the Friends of the Lincoln Township Library group, and in 2009, she was a member of the committee that wrote Lincoln Township Public Library: The First Fifty Years.
Indeed, Bernice‘s life was one of service to her community, and Lincoln Township Public Library was a huge beneficiary of that. Her efforts to establish the library, to help it grow, and to document its history will continue to be appreciated for a long time to come.
