She was born in Tulsa, Okla., in 1931, the only child of Abe and Zola Brand. She majored in psychology at the University of Texas, where she met her husband, Robert “Bob” Blumenthal, and several of her lifelong friends. Although she considered pursuing psychology research professionally after she graduated in 1953, marriage and children took precedence.
In 1958, Beverly and Bob settled in Dallas, where they raised three children: Pam, Karen and Brad. In the 1960s, Beverly became involved with mental health organizations as a volunteer, helping to establish the first suicide crisis hotline in Dallas in 1968 and chairing the annual “bell-ringer” fundraiser for what was then called the Dallas Association for Mental Health.
These experiences led her to pursue a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Texas at Arlington, and she became a licensed clinical social worker. She specialized in therapy for victims of violence and crime, leading therapy groups for abused women, working as a rape crisis counselor, and serving on the American Red Cross Mental Health Disaster Team. She worked with the Family Place to train professionals to respond to family violence, which was then not widely recognized, and served as the first chair of Victim Outreach, which supported victims of crime and violence. She also supervised undergraduate and graduate students at UTA’s School of Social Work.
In 2002, she received a Savvy Award from Foley’s and the Dallas Morning News in recognition of her years of advocacy for mental health in Dallas, including many years as chair of the Mental Health Association. In 2003, the Dallas unit of the National Association of Social Workers honored her with its lifetime achievement award.
Beverly was a passionate advocate and volunteer for dozens of Dallas organizations, including the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Friends of KERA, the Dallas Association of Social Workers, the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas, and Temple Emanu-El.
A lifelong lover of the arts, Beverly was a board member and tireless supporter of dance presenter TITAS and a member of the President’s Council at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts. She loved attending modern dance performances and collecting figurative glass and provocative pieces of art. In her retirement, she took many jewelry-making and ceramics classes at Brookhaven Community College. Her crowning achievement was a delightful series of ceramic sculptures of dogs in various yoga poses.
Beverly shared Sunday dinner with her family and grandchildren for decades and could always be counted on to produce cookies or preserved Texas peaches from her freezer. She was an elegant hostess who arranged beautifully colorful tables for Passover seders and her annual New Year’s Eve party. Her love of beautiful things extended to clothing and jewelry; her final illness may have been a contributing factor in the recent Neiman Marcus bankruptcy.
She is survived by her son Brad Blumenthal and his wife, Lynn Voedisch; son-in-law Scott McCartney; and grandchildren Abby McCartney, Jen McCartney, and Erik Van Meter. She was preceded in death by her husband, Bob Blumenthal, and her daughters, Pam Blumenthal and Karen Blumenthal.
The family is deeply appreciative of the devotion of compassionate caregivers, especially Hilarie Buckley, Sharon Perry and Isatu Kamara.
To honor Beverly’s life, contributions can be made to Mental Health America of Greater Dallas (mhadallas.org), TITAS/Dance Unbound (titas.org), or Temple Emanu-El (tedallas.org).
Services will be held via Zoom on Wednesday at 1:30 pm. Contact Temple Emanu-El at tedallas.org or (214) 706-0000 for details.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18