Beatrice Nesbitt (Sobel) Kohnle

Kohnle,  Beatrice Nesbitt  96 April 26, 1918 Aug. 21, 2014  Known as Bea, Mom, Grandma and Great-grandma Bea, and celebrated for her enthusiasm, compassion and resilience, Beatrice Nesbitt Kohnle created a gravitational center for family and friends which held us in her love, strength and constant support. Bea was 96 years old when she died peacefully Thursday morning, Aug. 21, 2014, in her sleep with family at her bedside, at her home in Portland. She had lived a full and forward-looking life. Bea was the first in her family to achieve a college degree, graduating magna cum laude from St. John’s University in Brooklyn, N.Y., with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1939. Four years later, she married Arthur Nesbitt, with whom she raised her son, Tim and daughter, Mary, helped support their household as a working mom and enabled Arthur to complete a novel, "Say You Never Saw Me," published by Scribner’s in 1957. After Arthur’s untimely death in 1963, she became the sole support of the family and advanced her career as an accountant for the American Paper Institute and other firms in New York City. In 1970, Bea renewed a girlhood acquaintance with an old family friend, Walter Kohnle, who had served under Gen. George Patton in World War II, continued his military service to become a colonel in the U.S. National Guard and had recently retired from a successful career in investment banking. They married on Armed Forces Day in 1971, in a ceremony in New York’s Park Avenue Armory. Bea and Walter created a happy and active life together in Greenport, Long Island and Palm Beach County, Fla., with a widening circle of friends, children and grandchildren until Walter’s death in 1988. In the years that followed, Bea’s friendship with Jerry Bolger matured into a long-term partnership, in which they established a shared household and welcomed to their lives new family and friends. Bea and Jerry moved to Portland days after voting in the disputed presidential election in Palm Beach County, in November 2000, and within weeks thereafter, Bea was a featured speaker at a Jobs With Justice rally to “Count Every Vote.” This was the beginning of her Portland life, which was filled with family, friends, good books, union rallies, competitive bridge, frequent Scrabble games and a steady stream of letters to the editor. By her family’s count, Bea had at least 20 letters to the editor published in The Oregonian during her Portland years. Bea is survived by her son, Tim Nesbitt of Salem; daughter, Mary Van Way of Portland; former daughter-in-law, Katy Riker; granddaughter, Marguerite AhYek; great-grand- children, Abby and Ben, also of Portland; granddaughter, Natalie Alaniz (Anthony); great-grandchildren, Kaden and Matthew of Jacksonville, Fla.; Walter’s daughter, Connie Konatsotis of The Villages, Fla., and her children, Erika, Nicole and James; Walter’s son, Keith Kohnle (Marie) of New Milford, Conn., and their son, Matthew; Jerry’s daughter, Chris Bolger of Berlin, Md., and her daughter, Leigh; and Jerry’s son, Michael Bolger (Vicki) and daughter, Dana of Chesterfield, Mo. A celebration of Bea’s life for family and friends will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, 2014, in the auditorium of Calaroga Terrace, 1400 N.E. Second Ave., Portland. Donations may be made in honor of Beatrice Kohnle and in memory of her deceased great-grandson, Antonio Arellano, to the Center for Medically Fragile Children at Providence Child Center, 830 N.E. 47th Avenue, Portland, OR 97213.