GUILDERLAND — Beverly Jane (née Trumble) Reeb, her husband said, was great fun, had a remarkable intellect, and created beauty in many ways. A social worker, she also helped children with special needs.

She died on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, in Albany. She was 79.

She was born on Oct. 31, 1942, one of seven children of Irene and William Trumble, who, prior to their deaths, lived in Waterville.

“Her siblings, nieces, and nephews knew her front door was open to them any time of day or night,” her husband of 59 years, Donald Reeb, wrote in a tribute. “They knew inside there was a very green kitchen with a bottomless cup of hot coffee and a delicious plate of food, waiting with a warm, welcoming, and generous soul.

“Bev was great fun. She gave her friends attention; she listened, shared, and laughed. Bev surrounded herself with friends who were as extraordinary as she. She loved hearing about their families, their adventures, and their projects.

“She had her share of adventures at home and overseas and was fun to talk with, always completely unpretentious. Bev enjoyed nothing more than gathering her friends and family to share time around her extra tall kitchen table or in her beautiful backyard garden.

“She created beauty in so many ways: her garden, her needlework, her sewing, her quilting, and not least of all, her knitting. Her husband, children, and grandchildren have been left with a vast assortment of treasured knit sweaters, caps, and mittens.

“Bev was also a letter writer. Her friends and family regularly received her beautiful handwritten notes with her loving inquiries, answers to questions sent in a previous letter, and news. She would pen letters to her grandchildren for special occasions and no occasion at all, just to let them know how often she was thinking about them.

“Bev had a remarkable intellect. She was an outstanding graduate of Waterville High School (Class of 1960) to the point that her teachers valued her so much that they arranged for Syracuse University to grant her a full scholarship. Her grades at Syracuse were so superior she received special permission to take a graduate course in economics as an undergraduate.

“In her junior year, she met and married Donald. With his Ph.D. in hand, they moved to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she graduated as an economics major. She then started her master's degree in social work in North Carolina. She and Donald returned to New York, and she completed her master’s degree in social work at Syracuse University in 1968.

“In addition to being a wife, mother, sister, daughter, and friend, she had multiple professional careers. First, she worked as a social worker with Rensselaer County and the Albany Veterans Hospital, then with the Guilderland School District, where she assisted in a class for children with special needs. In 1984, Bev received a Certificate of Recognition from the Guilderland School Board for her classroom service.

“After leaving Guilderland schools, she worked for many years as the office manager at the Music Studio in Colonie. This job involved many hours of office work but even more hours of sewing and crafting, so the children attending the Music Studio had beautiful costumes for the spectacular end-of-the-year stage shows. The ripples of admiration and joy that she leaves will be a blessing forever.”

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Beverly Jane (née Trumble) Reeb is survived by her husband, Donald; her two daughters, Julia Reeb and her husband, Brad Woolworth, and Emily Bray and her husband, Darryl; and four dearly loved grandchildren, Samantha Woolworth, Evan Bray, Eitan Woolworth, and Laila Bray.

She is also survived by two sisters and two brothers, Barbara Misiaszek and her husband, Joseph, Rebecca Hungerford, whose husband, Dennis, is deceased, Fred Trumble, whose wife, Tammy, is deceased, and Henry Trumble, whose wife, Sue, is deceased, as well as by many nieces and nephews.

Two of her brothers, Ralph Trumble and Ronald Trumble, died before her.

She donated her body to the Albany Medical College. There will be no funeral service.

A celebration of life memorial service will be held on Sept. 10, 2022, at the Colonie Mohawk River Park in Colonie from 2 to 5 p.m.

Memorial messages may be left at www.altamontenterprise.com/milestones.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Salvation Army at https://give.salvationarmyusa.org or to the Capital City Rescue Mission at https://give.capitalcityrescuemission.org/give.