Beth Ann (Bentz) Bond

NO. ANDOVER - Beth Ann (Bentz) Bond, 89, of North Andover, MA passed away peacefully at High Pointe Hospice House in Haverhill on April 29, 2024.

Beth was born in York, PA on November 24, 1934, to Alfred Charles Bentz and Dorcas May (Slothower) Bentz and grew up in the Hillcroft area of York. After graduating from York High School in 1952, she headed to New York City to attend the American Theatre Wing Professional School and pursue a career as an actress.

In New York, Beth studied dance, voice, and acting, and modeled shoes (she was a perfect size 5!)  She was proud to have her photo in Life Magazine, taken at the New York Boat Show, as she modeled high above the floor on a rotating boat motor blade. Then in 1956, while doing summer stock at the Peterborough Playhouse in Peterborough, New Hampshire, Beth met and fell in love with the handsome young business manager, Nathaniel Bond.  They married just six months later, so that Beth could accompany him to Germany where he was stationed in the U.S. Army. They were married for 66 years.

Upon their return to the states, the couple lived in Salem, MA and in 1959 bought a house in Georgetown, MA where they raised their three children.  Taking care of children was one of Beth’s greatest joys and one that continued long after her own children were grown.

Beth devoted countless hours to volunteer work. As a member of the First Congregational Church of Georgetown she served on the Board of Christian Education and loved to organize events like the Fun Fair for Children, Vacation Bible School, and the church centennial. Her elaborate and artistic centerpieces for the church coffee hours were legendary.  But Beth’s greatest joy at church was teaching Sunday School.  She worked tirelessly to create meaningful lessons for the children, including dressing 20 tiny dolls in wedding clothes for a doll wedding, and reading “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” to groups of children each year, complete with large illustrations on posterboard.

When the family moved to Haverhill in 1983, Beth volunteered at the Haverhill Municipal Hospital gift shop and in the elementary schools, reading books to the children. She was always a welcome guest for the students and teachers alike, as her visits typically included homemade treats.  It was through her school visits that Beth began to hear troubling stories of abuse and neglect.  Soon she was volunteering with the Department of Social Services, helping to create and execute an abuse-prevention program in the city’s school system.

In 1986, the family moved to Nantucket and Beth took a job in a children’s clothing store and later in a gift shop. In 1988 they relocated again, this time to Glenburn, Maine, where Beth worked at the Estée Lauder counter in Porteous Department Store.  Beth continued her volunteer work in the Bangor area schools until 1992 when she moved her elderly mother into their home. Beth’s mother suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and Beth became a fierce advocate for Alzheimer’s research, organizing the Walk for Alzheimer’s in Bangor for several years.

Those who knew Beth best, knew that second only to her love of children was her love of animals.  Although her childhood plans to raise collies never came to pass, Beth gave food, shelter, and spay/neuter services to countless stray cats. Her bird books and binoculars were always by the window and every night she could be found sitting in the kitchen, listening to late-night talk radio, while making peanut butter sandwiches for her menagerie of raccoons, foxes, coyotes, deer, skunks, porcupines, woodchucks, opossums, and flying squirrels.  She didn’t even mind when an occasional bear stopped by for a bite and knocked down all the birdfeeders.

From the time she was a child, Beth just loved to laugh.  She enjoyed riddles, jokes, and comedy shows, and loved musical theater. Beth made everyone happy with her cooking, because she never met a stick of butter she didn’t like! If there was music on the TV, you could hear Beth harmonizing as she made dinner or see her dancing at the sink as she washed the dishes.  Beth also believed in life after death and felt a deep connection to the spiritual world; seeing, hearing and believing in phenomena that the rest of us didn’t always appreciate. But her faith was firm.

In 2020, Nat and Beth somewhat reluctantly left their sanctuary in Maine and moved into Nichols Village in Groveland, MA.  When Beth suffered a stroke in 2021, she required long-term care and was moved to Prescott House in North Andover. Nat visited her several times a week for the next two years until he passed away in June of 2023. Beth died just 10 months later from complications due to her stroke.

Beth is survived by her children, Jennifer Hickman of Andover, MA, Eben Bond and his wife Laurie of Fremont, NH, Kendra Niehaus and her husband Bill of South Riding, VA; her grandchildren Jacob Bond of Hookset, NH, Jason Bond of Fremont, NH, Campbell Niehaus of Pittsburgh, PA and Molly Niehaus of South Riding, VA; her brother-in-law William Hullmann of York PA, and several nieces and nephews. Beth was predeceased by her husband, her parents, her brother Alfred C. Bentz, Jr. her sister Beverly Hullmann, and by her son-in-law Paul Hickman. 

Private burial was held at Pine Hill Cemetery in Peterborough, New Hampshire on May 2. Donations in Beth’s memory may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Floor 17, Chicago, IL. 60601 or to Newhouse Wildlife Rescue, P.O. Box 596, Chelmsford, MA 01824, or on their respective websites. Arrangements by Driscoll Funeral Home, Haverhill, MA. For guestbook visit www.driscollcares.com

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