Beth Eldridge Goering, 92, died on Friday (March 18, 2011) at Kidron Bethel Health Care in North Newton.
She was born on May 2, 1918, to John P. and Grace Comstock Eldridge in Kansas City, Mo. Although originally named Ann Elizabeth, she was always called Beth.
Beth attended Paseo High School and Kansas City Junior College, and she received her bachelor of science degree in home economics at Bethel College, where she met her future husband, Jacob D. Goering. They were married in August 1941.
During World War Il, Beth served as dietician at Civilian Public Service Camps in Lapine, Ore., and North Fork, Calif., where her husband also was on the staff. With the birth of her first child, J. Daniel Goering, in 1945, Beth gave her time and attention to her growing family as they moved to Akron, Pa., Chicago and Smithsburg, Md.
When her husband accepted a position on the faculty of the University of Maryland, the family, now including daughters Kathleen and Barbra, moved to Silver Spring, Md., where Beth and Jacob lived for 39 years.
In the mid '60s, Beth received training as one of the first Head Start teachers in Montgomery County and taught Head Start in Burtonsville, Md., for seven years.
In 1973, she accompanied her husband to attend the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. She participated in workshops on the therapeutic art of painting images that emerge in dreams and the unconscious. Upon her return to the United States, Beth hosted classes facilitating painting from the unconscious in Silver Spring for the next 17 years. Beth also studied the practice of reflexology, and throughout the years, she performed foot massages for many friends and family members.
In 1996, Beth and Jacob moved to Kidron Bethel Retirement Village in North Newton, where Beth constructed a painting room, continued to give foot treatments to friends and family and became a volunteer for Harry Hynes Hospice at Kidron Bethel Health Care until shortly before her death.
Beth is survived by her husband, Jacob D. Goering; son, J. Daniel (Marian) Goering; and daughters, Kathleen Goering (Kevin) McMahon and Barbra Goering (Jim Murray), as well as five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Her sisters, Rosena Eldridge Peters and Grace Eldridge Halperin, preceded her in death.
Beth's body was donated to the K.U. Medical Center in Kansas City. Ashes will be inurned at a later date.
There will be a memorial service for Beth at 11 a.m. March 29 at Bethel College Mennonite Church in North Newton. Memorial contributions may be made to Kidron Bethel Village or to Bethel College, North Newton, KS 67117.
