Obituary of Bertha Stefanowicz

Bertha Kern Stefanowicz, age 97 of Harveys Lake, passed away peacefully with her family at her bedside Saturday, June 15, 2024 at the Meadows Manor Assisted Living, Dallas.

She was born in Mountaintop on March 24, 1927 and was the daughter of the late Leonard and Mary Lehman Kern but was raised by her uncle and aunt, Faye and Louise Kern Williams.

Bertha graduated from Laketon High School in 1945 where she was part of the woman’s basketball team that won the Back Mountain Championship and went on to study at Wilkes-Barre Business College. She worked at the Harveys Lake Bottling Company, Calco Chemical Company in New Jersey and retired from Commonwealth Telephone Company. She was a member of the Our Lady of Victory Church at Harveys Lake, Altar and Rosary Society, the Harveys Lake Women’s Club and volunteered at Meals on Wheels and Volunteers for Literacy in Kingston. Bertha loved books and was an avid reader, and was proud of her Harveys Lake heritage. She was a loving wife, mother, sister and aunt.

In addition to her parents, uncle and aunt, she was preceded in death by her loving husband, Adam Stefanowicz; daughter, Betsy Jean Stefanowicz Holland and her husband Richard; siblings, Rose Bentley, Leonard, John, Charles “Bud”, Louise Healy and Mary Aiello; and extended family, Thomas and Joseph Garrity, Bina Garrity Stenger, and Mary Garrity Payne.  

She is survived by daughter, Marianne Markunas and her husband Richard of Clarks Summit; numerous nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held Friday, June 21, 2024 at 9:15 am from the Curtis L. Swanson Funeral Home, Inc., corner of routes 29 and 118, Pikes Creek, with A Mass of Christian Burial at 10:00 am from the Our Lady of Victory Church, 16 2nd St., Harveys Lake, PA 18618 with, Rev. Andrew S. Hvozdovic, officiating.  A celebration of life for Bertha’s daughter, Betsy Jean Stefanowicz Holland will be held throughout the visitation at the funeral home and in conjunction with the mass at the church on Friday.

Visitation will be from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM at the funeral home on Thursday, June 20, 2024.

Interment will be in the Chapel Lawn Memorial Park, Dallas.

The family would like to thank everyone at the Meadows Manor and Compassionate Care Hospice for their kind attentive and exceptional care. She loved you all.

Online condolences can be made at clswansonfuneralhome.com