Beverly Jean Bosch, or “Miss Bosch,” as she was known to her many 4th- and 5th-grade students in Santa Maria and “Bev,” as she was known to her many friends and colleagues, passed away on Thursday, July 9, 2020 at her Foxenwoods home in Orcutt after losing a short battle with cancer.

Beverly grew up on her family’s farm outside Worland, Wyo. After high school graduation, she worked in a local bank before attending Ottawa University in Kansas. Graduating with her elementary school teaching credential, she taught in Fort Riley, Kansas, and in Worland.

In the mid 1960s, she took a position in the Santa Maria Elementary School District and moved to California. She retired in 1999.

Beverly enjoyed travel. She made annual summer road trips to Wyoming to visit family and enjoy fresh corn and tomatoes. Her other adventures included driving with four friends in two Volkswagon Beetles to Guadalajara, Mexico, to attend summer school; a trip around the United States in one of the first pop-top Volkswagon campers; and an Outward Bound experience in the High Sierra.

She was an avid tennis player, and active in the Santa Maria Teachers’ Association. Upon retirement, she took up the art of making stained glass. Her projects are found in the homes and yards of her many friends.

As much as anything, Beverly enjoyed gardening and reading in her own backyard, accompanied by one of the four Norwegian elkhounds that she raised beginning in 1970. 

Asked what she missed most when COVID-19 struck, Beverly said it was the freedom to go to the market whenever she wanted and to the library where she knew just where she could look for a new intriguing non-fiction book.

Beverly leaves many friends and colleagues in the Santa Maria area. COVID-19 and a quick-moving cancer prevented the good-byes she would have appreciated.

She is survived by two brothers, Allen Bosch of Worland Wyo., Warren Bosch of Denver, Colo., and her sister Aura Kornkven of Casper, Wyo. There are also many nephews, nieces and their children.

A Memorial Fund for Non-Fiction Books has been established at the Santa Maria Public Library. Send donations in Beverly Bosch’s name to Mary Housel, Santa Maria Public Library, 421 S. McClelland, Santa Maria, CA 93454.

To leave a condolence for the family, visit www.dudleyhoffmanmortuary.com.