Blair, Bertha A.

DELMAR - Bertha Ames Blair, 85, of Delmar passed away on November 22, 2022 at home with her beloved family by her side after a long illness.

She was born in Cooperstown, NY in 1937 to Murry W. and Florence Ames of Richfield Springs, NY. Bertha was the oldest of three children. Growing up on the family dairy farm made lasting memories for Bertha that she captured in the stories she told and her scrapbooking. After graduating from high school in 1955, Bertha moved to Albany, NY and attended Albany Business College, graduating in 1956. In Albany she met her husband of 63 years, Thomas H. Blair.

Bertha retired from St. Peter’s Hospital after 30 years of employment. She was supervisor of the Outpatient Registration and was Office Manager of St. Peter’s Health Center for Children when she retired. While in her spare time Bertha enjoyed crafting, sewing, scrapbooking and was an avid Duke basketball and Mets fan, her greatest pleasure was in caring for and spending time with her grandchildren and family.

Bertha is survived by her husband Thomas and her two children, Anne (Christopher) Miller and Thomas H. Blair, Jr (Joan). Bertha also is survived by her grandchildren, Thomas H. III, Jillian E., and Mary V. Blair, and Kathryn M. and Laura F. Miller, and her great grandson, Logan Dempsey, her brothers-in law Joseph (Susan), Kenneth, Paul Blair, and sister-in-law Sister Marcia Blair, CSJ, as well as many nieces, nephews, and cousins. Bertha cherished her family and took great pleasure in cataloguing their lives in the many scrapbooks and genealogy records she kept. She is pre-deceased by her parents, brother, Langdon A. Ames (Donna), and sister Marilyn A. Sayles (the late Rev. George Sayles).

The family would like to thank The Community Hospice for their compassionate care during this time.

Calling hours will be on Wednesday, November 30 from 4-7 pm at the Daniel Keenan Funeral Home, 490 Delaware Ave. Albany. Family and friends are invited to join the family for a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Matthew’s Church, 25 Mountainview St., Voorheesville, NY on Thursday, December 1, at 11:30am. Burial will follow in Calvary Cemetery in Glenmont, NY.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Bertha’s memory to the COPD Foundation, 3300 Ponce de Leon Blvd., Miami, FL 33134, copdfoundation.org; the Alzheimer’s Association of NENY, 1003 New Loudon Rd., Suite 201, Cohoes, NY 12047, alz.org; The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, 230 East Ohio Street, Suite 500, Chicago, Illinois 60611, pulmonaryfibrosis.org; or The Community Hospice, 310 So. Manning Blvd., Albany, NY 12208, communityhospice.org.