Florence Roseann Ryan Bergstein passed away on April 6, 2009, at the AO Fox Nursing Home, after a very long illness. Born November 26, 1917 in New York City, Florence was the daughter of Florence Manley Ryan and Joseph Frances Ryan.

Florence spent her early years in San Francisco and moved to Leonia, New Jersey in 1931. She graduated from Leonia High School in 1935 and attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables for 2 years. Florence graduated from Holy Name Hospital School of Nursing in 1941. Throughout a long career in nursing Florence worked in a number of hospitals in New Jersey and New York. Her nursing practice specialties included Obstetrics, Recovery, Medicine and Psychiatry. She concluded her career at the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research in 1970 where she was a research nurse. Many of the psychiatric drugs in prevalent use today came out of the research work of the Kline Institute.

In recent years historians have called Florence's generation "the greatest generation." She and her generation had direct personal experience with the great events of the turbulent 20th century. Florence was a beloved wife in 2 loving marriages. She married Thomas J. Markert in 1942. After the war Tom, an Army veteran, and Florence raised their family in Leonia, NJ. In later years, after they retired, Tom and Florence moved to Florida and then Fredericksburg, Va. Tom predeceased her in 1979. Florence moved to Oneonta in 1980 to be near her daughter and 2 grandsons. She married Dr. Harry B. Bergstein in 1989 in Oneonta, the two embarking together on a late-life loving marriage and travel adventures. Harry predeceased her in 2004.

Florence will always be remembered for her steadfast love and loyalty to her family and friends. She carried the work ethic common to her generation and succeeded in combining a nursing career and working nights for many years, with a healthy loving family life. Florence was an individual of grace and beauty and had a unique sense of style. Good with a pun and short one-liners, Florence had a great sense of humor and would often generate mirth and laughter. She was an avid reader, a lover of classical music and opera and was widely traveled, particularly enjoying her trips to Ireland.

Florence leaves behind her 2 loving children, Thomas Joseph Markert and his wife, Kathryn of Miami, Florida; Rosemary Markert and her husband, Peter H. Powers of Oneonta; her beloved grandsons, Willem Markert Van Essendelft and his wife, Jessica of Boston, Mass; Adrian Ryan Van Essendelft of Oneonta; and 2 granddaughters, Lita and Lisa Markert, living overseas. She is survived also by the loving family of Harry Bergstein: Paul Bergstein, his wife Vickie and son Nicholas of Dartmouth, Mass; Mary Bergstein of Providence, RI and David Bergstein of NYC.

Friends are invited to join Florence's family for an informal gathering at the Lewis Hurley & Pietrobono Funeral Home, 51 Dietz St., Oneonta at 10AM Thursday April 16, 2009, prior to an 11AM Mass of Christian Burial at St. Mary's Church, 39 Walnut St., Oneonta, with the Rev. Joseph Benintende, as celebrant. Burial will follow at Mt. Calvary Cemetery.

To send a condolence to the family, visit, www.lhpfuneralhome.com

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in remembrance of Florence's love of music to the Catskill Symphony Orchestra, Inc. PO Box 14, Oneonta, NY 13820.

Good bye, Mom – you were the greatest.