The bumper sticker on Dad’s legendary lemon yellow Triumph Spitfire read “Love a Librarian” – and we all did. Charlotte Stuart Bergstrom, MLS, May 28, 1924 – Nov. 12, 2020, passed away peacefully in her sleep during a string of brilliant November days in Danvers, MA. Sons John and Bill Bergstrom were with her throughout the week and many loved ones including her sister Buffy Calvert, daughter Mary Linn Bergstrom, grandchildren Jessie Murphy, David Borsman, and Dave Bergstrom, and former son-in-law Raymond Borsman, were able to spend time. Her son David joined his brothers on the day following her death. She was surrounded by the loving thoughts of her family and friends, near and far.
Born in New York City to Merritt Corbett Stuart and May Hunting Bruce, Charlotte (known as Charlee) grew up in Corbett and Binghamton. While visiting colleges during her senior year at Binghamton Central High, her cousin John Perkins introduced her to William H. Bergstrom, an Amherst student bound for medical school and a distinguished career as a pediatrician, researcher and professor at Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse. Charlee and Bill lived four houses apart from one another in Binghamton but had never met! He recalled the day in his memoir “I thought about her for the rest of the night – and for the rest of my life!” Charlee attended Mt. Holyoke College for her freshman year, married Bill in June 1944, completed her bachelor’s degree in biology and earned Phi Beta Kappa membership at the University of Rochester, where Bill was enlisted in the Army and attending medical school.
While Bill’s professional path took them to Cleveland OH, Boston MA, and Lackland Airforce Base, San Antonio TX, they put down roots and raised their four children – Bill, John, Mary Linn and David – in Manlius. Undaunted by full time motherhood, Charlee earned a master’s degree in library science at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies. For over 30 years she was the school librarian at the Pebble Hill School and, following its merger with the Manlius School, the Manlius Pebble Hill School.
Appreciative of Syracuse’s opera, symphony, art and theatre offerings, Charlee also enjoyed the livestock and midway barkers at the Delaware County Fair and New York State Fair, never failing to report on the annual Butter Sculpture subject. (Darryl Strawberry was a favorite.) She was a lifelong advocate for women’s rights, voting rights, social justice initiatives and an active supporter of the Farmer’s Museum, the Erie Canal Museum, the Onondaga County Historical Association (where she volunteered after her retirement), the Manlius Historical Society and Museum and the Fayetteville-Manlius School District.
Charlee and Bill relished summer trips to Paris, Italy, London and Scotland.
She read deeply, broadly and constantly – darning a sock while reading another chapter. She instilled a love of reading in her children and considered a Barnes & Noble gift card the perfect present for all occasions. The family didn’t own a TV for many years and then only watched very selectively; Charlee firmly believed “It’ll rot your brain.” An inveterate newspaper clipper, she ensured that every MPH faculty mailbox and every envelope sent from home was packed with clippings aligned with the recipient’s particular interests.
Charlee was quietly heroic – when the older boys ran up the road calling for help after their 4-year-old sister fell into the rushing waters of Limestone Creek, she unhesitatingly ran to the water’s edge and pulled the drowning child out to safety.
Frugal and self-reliant, she made soap for the family (mailed to us for years after we left home,) suet for the birds, mayonnaise, crabapple jelly from the tree in the side yard, sourdough for pancakes before it was trendy, bread, maple syrup from our own maple sap, and always had a roll of homemade icebox cookie dough in the freezer – an indelible memory for her children, grand and great-grandchildren. A master of logistics, she packed the station wagon (husband, kids, canoe, dog, camping and fishing gear) for summer expeditions, plucked, dressed and cooked the hens and ducks occasionally culled from Dad’s little flocks and, guided by her carefully-handwritten lists, was always ready for a picnic, a birthday party or an elegant holiday dinner complete with warm rolls, homemade pies and her signature ice cream bombe. Her granddaughter Mary Linn warmly describes her as a “brilliant and sharp-witted matriarch” for whom “family time and traditions reigned supreme.”
Charlee was predeceased by her husband of almost 72 years, William H. Bergstrom, her sisters Janet Corbett Stuart and Lillian Stuart Whistler, her step-brother Bill Altman and her great-granddaughter Chloe Rose Leong. She is survived by her four children Bill, John, Mary Linn and David, daughter-in-law Margaret, son-in-law Jeff, grandchildren Jessie, David, Mary Linn, David, Elizabeth and their loving partners Todd, Brianna and Melissa, five great-grandchildren, her sister Buffy Calvert, step-brother Peter Altman, his wife Beth, and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
We are deeply grateful for the constant care and comfort of our brother John over many years, and appreciate the competent attention of her caregivers and hospice attendants toward the end. We will gather as a family when we’re able to, hopefully next summer. If you are so moved, please donate to a cause such as Habitat for Humanity or Doctors Without Borders.
