Obituary of Mary Speir Berg

Mary Catherine Speir Berg, R.N. Mrs. Berg passed away early on the morning of Tuesday, October 26, 2010. She was 95 years young, being born on February 6, 1915. She was a resident of Sunrise on Cass Street in Monterey, California, for the last year. Before that she resided with her son William Berg and daughter-in-law Lynda Nichols Berg, and grandson Zachary William on the Monterey Peninsula in California for five years. Mary was born and lived in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Orphaned in 1927, Mary went on to be Valedictorian at Divine Providence High School and St. John?s Nursing School in Pittsburgh. Mary served as a lieutenant Navy nurse in the Pacific theater during WWII. After the war, she worked as a surgical nurse and a visiting nurse in Pittsburgh. Mary was a pioneer aviator, being one of the first airline attendants to travel on transcontinental flights for TWA. At that time it was required that all stewardesses be Registered Nurses. Mary met her husband of 38 years, Charles Frederick Berg, M.D., a general and orthopedic surgeon, of Pittsburgh, PA, when she had worked as a surgical nurse. Charles preceded Mary in death, passing in 1984. Mary had five sons: Thomas and Charles, Jr. are deceased, Robert lives in Stuart, Florida, David in Cumberland, Rhode Island, and William in Coral de Tierra, California. Mary?s nursing tradition is proudly carried on by her niece, Kathy Armendale, R.N., in Windsor, England, and granddaughter, Marissa Ann Berg, R. N, at the University of Pittsburgh. Mary was a long time parishioner of St. Bernard Catholic Church of Mt. Lebanon, PA and recently of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Spreckles, CA. Mrs. Berg was interred next to her husband I Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery in Pittsburgh, PA. Friends are asked to continue her devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to our Blessed Mother Mary!