Brenda Tersine (Goichberg)
1948-2022
My heart is heavy with grief. The light of
my life is gone.
My wonderful wife Brenda
passed away Feb 11 after an illness that
had
mostly confined her to bed for the past
year. She had appeared to be
recovering
lately, making her passing even more of a
shock.
For almost 40 years, Brenda worked the
registration table at many CCA events,
receiving late
entries, byes and
withdrawals. We traveled together to almost
every part of the USA. While I was
usually preoccupied with various tasks and
issues that arise at a big tournament, she
never failed
to visit a nearby food
outlet and appear with my lunch or dinner
and remind me that I had to eat.
She had
a great sense of humor.
Brenda was born in Punxsutawney, PA,
home of the legendary groundhog.
Before
becoming a chess director, she was a
certified Funeral Director, at a time
when that was almost an all male field.
She was a pioneer in funeral
service, becoming Punxsutawney’s first
woman Funeral Director in 1971.
She was the first woman in
Pennsylvania to be certified to do eye
enucleations for corneal transplants.
She was
Oliver H. Bair’s first licensed woman
embalmer & Funeral Director in
Philadelphia in 1976.
She was the first woman
enbalming assistant professor at
Hudson Valley Community College in
1982, and trained
many of the current funeral directors in New
York state.
She contributed to the
Embalming textbook written by Robert J,
Mayer in 1990. She also did K-12 substitute
teaching.
Brenda was a 1966 graduate
of Punxsutawney HS, a 1970 graduate of
Indiana University of PA with
a B.S.
in Social Science Education, a 1971
graduate of the Pittsburgh Intitute of
Mortuary Science,
and a 1985
graduate of SUNY at Albany with a
Masters degree in Advanced Classroom
Teaching.
Services are expected to be Thursday, Feb
17, 2 pm at Flynn Funeral Home in Monroe,
NY.
Please send any donations to the US
Chess Federation.
Rest in peace sweetie, there are no
words to express how much I miss you.
Bill
Goichberg
President, Continental Chess Association
UPDATE:
There will be a Mass for Brenda March 5 at
12 noon at St. Stanislaus Church, 57 21st
Street, Pittsburgh PA 15222.