Beverly Verrengia

Beverly Verrengia died May 10 in Danvers just shy of her 96th birthday surrounded by family and friends. The attention would have made her uncomfortable, especially on Mother’s Day. So, she slipped away. It was just her style.

She grew up in Malden, Massachusetts, and lived on Boston’s North Shore her entire life. She met Richard (Dick) Verrengia in the high school library in 1945 and later recalled, “I was so excited, I thought I would burst!” Eighty years later and holding her hand, he said, “She was my whole life.” And he was hers.

Bev survived the Great Depression as the only child in a grim, crowded house with little affection and more than enough criticism. She had every reason to pass that pain along, like a germ. Instead, she spent her life defying it. In her precise, self-effacing way, she poured herself into her husband and her sons —Peter and Joe—and later an ever-widening circle of grandchildren, cousins, dear friends, and their children.

She kept track of people with astonishing care: names, schools, sports, jobs, favorite foods, birthdays, anniversaries. She dreaded conversation, and she always wanted to be prepared with the latest topics and milestones.

Elegant, sincere, analytical, tenacious – those are words often used to describe Bev.

She was born into a world that offered women few chances to reach their potential. In high school she was denied advanced math classes. She graduated from Colby College with Dick (Class of ’52) with a Latin degree because it was the most rigorous major then open to women. Dick and Bev married in 1954. While he traveled for work, she earned her M.Ed. at Lesley University by taking night classes in Cambridge.

She went on to teach in hometown schools in Boxford. Later she developed the Basic Communications unit at North Shore Community College, and she did curriculum work into her seventies. They moved to Brooksby Village in 2018.

A few months ago, one of her former students got in touch after 50 years. “You weren’t just a teacher,” he wrote. “You were a life coach in those confusing teenage years for me and so many others.”

Outside the classroom, she sewed, knitted, embroidered, cooked, and gardened with a mastery that left people amazed. She volunteered at local libraries, as well as the Peabody Essex Museum, and the Shalin Liu Performance Center.

There will be no services. If you would like, please donate to the North Shore Community College Fund at https://www.northshore.edu/giving/index.html.