WWII Women’s Army Corps veteran and generous volunteer
Beverly Kreger was a proud World War II Army veteran, a generous volunteer, and “so much fun to be around.”
Born Sept. 25, 1921, Ms. Kreger, of Stanton Heights, died Feb. 1, at the age of 97.
“I don’t think she ever expected to live as long as she did,” said her daughter, Vicki Tenney of Brookline. “She still had her mind at the end.”
Ms. Kreger grew up in Meadville in Crawford County, graduated from Meadville High School, and enlisted in the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps in November 1942.
She joined “to get out on her own,” but it became a defining part of her life, said Lauren Delricci, 35, who befriended Ms. Kreger through the Women’s Overseas League, a group for female veterans who have served overseas.
“She never wanted to leave the Women’s Army Corps, because she loved it so much. But after World War II they basically dissolved the Women’s Army Corps,” said Ms. Delricci, of Ross.
Ms. Kreger worked as a telephone operator with the postal service unit, and made the rank of technical sergeant, Ms. Delricci said. She served in England and France, and was in Paris on V-E Day.
“There were big celebrations, and she was there for it,” Ms. Delricci said. “She remembered it like it was yesterday.”
“She never forgot how to march. You didn’t walk, you marched, shoulders back, one-two-three-four,” said Ms. Kreger’s sister, Carol McGowen of Newark, Del.
One of Ms. Kreger’s favorite stories about the war, Ms. Delricci said, was the time she was at a pub in England and she was approached by a soldier who asked, “You’re from Meadville, aren’t you?” She did not recognize him, but she had been in the soldier’s brother’s high school class, she learned.
Ms. Kreger also liked to complain about the “horrible English food” on the RMS Queen Mary, the British troop transport ship that carried her across the Atlantic.
“She was such a spitfire,” Ms. Delricci said.
After the war, Ms. Kreger studied to be a secretary at Margaret Morrison Carnegie College, the women’s college at Carnegie Mellon University, and graduated in 1950.
While there, she met her husband, Raymond Kreger, with whom she would have two children, Ms. Tenney, and Timothy Kreger of Stanton Heights.
After graduation, Ms. Kreger worked as a secretary, then as a student adviser for the graduate school of business at the University of Pittsburgh, while she raised her two children.
“She was the greatest mother,” Ms. Tenney said. “She always wanted to help. Her children came first, and she would go without things.”
“She didn’t think she was good with kids, but she was. She had more patience with them than I did,” Ms. McGowen said.
While raising her children, Ms. Kreger worked hard, often typing theses for graduate students at night, her daughter added.
Ms. McGowen, 16 years younger than Ms. Kreger, was only 5 when her older sister joined the war effort, so she got to know her better as an adult, when they both had kids. “We grew closer and closer the older we got.”
“We piled the kids into a motor home and took them to Disney World together,” Ms. McGowen said.
They also took a trip to Europe, where Ms. Kreger tried, and failed, to find where she had lived in Paris.
Ms. Kreger visited Ms. McGowen several times a year in Delaware, where they would go to the beach and play “old lady games” like 65 and May I?, Ms. McGowen said.
After Ms. Kreger’s husband died in 1987, she soon retired but stayed busy, volunteering with numerous organizations, her daughter said.
She got involved with her Carnegie Mellon alumni group, raising funds to help women with financial need pay the school’s tuition, her daughter said.
Ms. Kreger served as the group’s treasurer at times and remained active for almost 30 years, stopping only because of mobility issues in 2017.
“She also volunteered at Family House for 25 years,” Ms. Tenney said. Ms. Kreger served as a receptionist at the Neville Street Family House, a place where patients and families can stay while getting treatment at nearby hospitals.
Ms. Kreger also became very involved at East Liberty Presbyterian Church, where she was ordained as a deacon.
According to the Rev. Heather Schoenewolf, an associate pastor at the church, Ms. Kreger took over the church’s “care notes,” small brochures with spiritual guidance that she would order and display.
“She was always passing out wisdom. She was really 97 years young — she was very active up until very recently,” Rev. Schoenewolf said. In addition to care notes, Ms. Kreger volunteered with the church’s Sunday school and summer Bible school, and a senior service group called the Happy Wanderers.
“Beverly also just had a great sense of humor, always wanted to lend a hand, and also just was very honest. She was a straight shooter,” Rev. Schoenewolf said.
“And she was, of course, very patriotic and proud of her service to our country, but not in a boastful way. She was very down to earth.”
In addition to the Women’s Overseas League, Ms. Kreger attended the Veterans Breakfast Club, where Ms. Delricci works, and was part of the Women’s Army Corps Veterans Association’s Pittsburgh chapter.
“I don’t want anyone to ever forget how proud she was she could serve her country,” Ms. McGowen said.
In addition to her sister and two children, Ms. Kreger is survived by three grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent in her name to Family House or the Wounded Warrior Project. She was buried with an honor guard at Calvary Cemetery on Saturday.
McCabe Bros. Funeral Home, 6214 Walnut St., Shadyside, handled arrangements.