Obituary of Herbie M. Beatty

Herbie Grace Miller Beatty (1929 – 2023)

Born in Newark, NJ Herbie came home to live in Stirling above her maternal grandparent’s grocery/butcher shop and slaughter house until 1936 when her family moved to Bloomfield, NJ. A very active child with predominantly male cousins, Herbie would do anything the boys would do.  She attended Demarest Elementary School and kept in contact with many of those friends all her life.  She rose to the rank of “Worthy Advisor” in the Rainbow Girls in her youth, attended Bloomfield High School earning her Varsity “Letter” for field hockey all 4 years, was President of the National Honor Society, served in the Civil Air Patrol, and volunteered at the Red Cross making bandages along with her grandmother during WWII from junior high school through her high school years.

After graduating high school, Herbie entered into nurse’s training at Mountainside Hospital School of Nursing in Montclair from where she graduated in 1950, passed her State Boards earning her RN title then briefly attended Seton Hall University.

Herbie married the late Charles Whitfield Beatty in 1951 and continued living in Bloomfield for a short time before moving to Rockaway Borough in 1952 where she became active in the Eastern Star, the Rebeccas, and the Methodist Church.  

She initially worked as a records investigator at the First National Iron Bank in Morristown prior to the birth of her first son.  After bearing 2 more sons, her family moved to Rockaway Township in 1957 from where Herbie worked nights and weekends at several area hospitals (Dover General, St. Clare’s (Denville), and Riverside (Boonton) so she could be home to send her boys off to school in the morning and greet them when they returned home in the afternoon.  Herbie was active in the Methodist Church and the Parent Teachers Association as well as a baker of treats for each of her 3 boys’ grade school classes.  She also worked at the Sara Francis Nursing Home in Boonton.

In 1968, Herbie was employed by the NJDOT and ran the Netcong dispensary attending to all employee health services in Northern NJ in addition to presenting countless seminars on health and safety issues across Central and Northern NJ.  The Dispensary was later moved to Stanhope where Herbie continued her duties until she retired in 1993.

After the loss of her late husband of 34 years in 1985, Herbie volunteered for the Christian Appalachian Project spending one week a year cooking, cleaning, and performing handyman repairs at a senior residence in Berea, Kentucky as well as assisting the County Nurse as she made her rounds through the county in Kentucky.

Herbie was an avid reader, reading newspapers cover to cover, solver of crossword puzzles loved astronomy and cartooning and attended some classes at the County College of Morris.  She also had tremendous culinary skills producing amazing meals from whatever was available.  A pet lover all her life, she rescued several dogs and always had a canine family member nearby.

In 1995, Herbie moved to her son’s home in Mansfield Township outside Washington in Warren County.  While there she became active in the Port Colden Methodist Church as well as volunteering at the Oxford unit of the American Cancer Society.

Herbie loved to garden, feed her birds, squirrels, chipmunks, deer, and that damn ground hog but only viewed the bears from the safety of her home.

Herbie was predeceased by her late husband Charles Whitfield Beatty, and survived by her 3 sons Keith Whitfield & spouse Valerie (Ellicott City, MD), George Herbie & spouse Christine (Hope, NJ), and Mark Valentine & partner Catherine (Washington (Warren County) NJ), 3 grandsons, 1 granddaughter, 1 great grandson, & 4 great granddaughters.

Herbie will live on in the hearts of all those her life has touched, always!

Visitation will be held on Wednesday December 6, 2023, from 9:00AM to 10:00AM at Norman Dean Home for Services 16 Righter Avenue Denville, NJ 07834 www.normandean.com followed by a funeral service at 10:00AM at the funeral home.  Interment will follow at Bloomfield Cemetery in Bloomfield, NJ.

Herbie Beatty Memorial

A Memorial Luncheon to honor Herbie Beatty will be scheduled for early Spring 2024 time and location to be announced.  Please contact Mark Beatty for details at (908) 619-9169 or (908) 689-0594 and leave message.