Bea Roth was born in May, 1922. She was the first of four children born to her parents Isidor and Frieda Aderman, recent immigrants to the U.S. Their genetics are strong as two of her younger sisters are still alive and kicking at 98 and 93 years old. She had a brother who passed away in 1994.
Her parents settled in Brooklyn NY where Bea grew up and spent most of her life. Her parents owned a candy store, which sold everything from newspapers to toys, cigars and cigarettes to ice cream sodas at their full fountain, full service shop. The whole family worked to maintain the business and being the eldest of four children, much of the responsibility fell into her young shoulders.
We think that this is where Bea learned to be the social person that she became. Education was always very important to her family and all of the children were encouraged to go as far as they could educationally.
During WWII, Bea worked full time as a secretary for the War Department while going to college at night. She earned both a Bachelors Degree and Master’s Degree in Sociology from Brooklyn College. In 1951, Bea married a wonderful man, Ted Roth, who treated her like a queen from the moment he met her until the day he died in 1994. They were happily married for 43 years. They lived in Brooklyn and raised three very devoted children together, Roberta, Michael and Abby.
When her youngest child was starting school, Bea realized that it was time to go back to work. She took a leap of faith, went back to school and became an teacher. She was a beloved elementary teacher for 20 years and made a significant impact on all those children lucky enough to find themselves in her classroom.
After retirement, Bea and Ted spent the next years enjoying time with friends and family and traveling throughout the country. A few years after the death of her husband and after much nagging and cajoling from her two younger children who had settled in sunny, warm SoCal, in 2002 Bea moved to Leisure World Seal Beach to be closer to her children, but more importantly, to be closer to her grandchildren, Adam, Tara and Gabriel. Anyone who knows Bea, knows that after a few minutes her eyes will begin to sparkle as she begins to say “did I tell you about…”. There is always a great joke at the end of the sentence, and then maybe a few more jokes for good measure. Everyone always knows where Bea is because there’s usually a group of people laughing hysterically standing next to her. If a great sense of humor and making people happy is considered good medicine, Bea will live forever.
Bea loves the education program provided by OLLI at Cal State Long Beach and has been taking classes there for over 18 years. Favorites would be Short Story Discussion, Geopolitics and Current Events. Bea loves keeping up with the news, local, international and political. She has volunteered at the Leisure World Health Center, enjoyed many years of exercise classes. She is still a vocal member of the Democratic Club and has belonged to several other clubs and organizations. She has loved being a part of the Leisure World community. She is very well versed in all that is going on and has strong opinions about all of it. She is a voracious reader and loves books of all kinds, particularly fiction, non-fiction and biographies.
Like us all, Covid has seriously affected her social calendar but she makes sure to keep up regularly by phone with all of her friends, both on the west coast and the east coast. Once a friend of Bea’s, always a friend of Bea’s. Isn’t that a lovely way to go through life? Bea is often asked why she feels she has been able to reach such an advanced age. People want to know what her secret is. Bea always answers this question the same way, “there’s no secret, I just didn’t die yet.” Many people attribute her longevity to her positive attitude, inquisitive nature, grit. So there’s Bea, beloved by many, especially her family, smart and sharp as ever, outrageously funny and one of the most caring people you’ll ever meet. Everyone should be lucky enough to have this said about them.
The world has changed dramatically in Bea’s lifetime, she has lived through the Depression and several wars. She always kept up and adjusted to the dramatic changes that were going on in women’s rights, civil rights, cultural changes and such major advances in technology. It’s been quite a ride so far. She hopes to live long enough to see “how things work out with climate change resolution and the future of the world.” She is looking forward to continuing spending time with her family and friends and enjoying all of the pleasures that life continues to offer.
Bea is very adventurous and well into her late 80’s she still enjoyed white water rafting in Colorado and Alaska, zip lining in Hawaii, dog sledding on Mendenhall glacier, helicopters, sea planes, and travel to Russia and Europe.