Beatrice Terrace

Named for Beatrice Teitel

Beatrice Terrace was named in honour of Beatrice Teitel or Bertha Stone. Leslie Stern, her granddaughter and one of the founding members of Entre Nous Femmes, says her family is not exactly sure when she was born or what her given name was. Beatrice immigrated from Poland with her family at the age of 6 months in the early 1900’s. At the border they named her Bertha. Later she named herself Beatrice and chose her own birthday. Married at 16, she was a mother at 17 and a grandmother before she was 40. She was a wonderful grandmother according to Leslie, embodying unconditional love,warmth and joy. A captivating storyteller, her family loved to hear her story of her 5 sisters in bed and of her the smallest, and how, when a bigger sister rolled over, she fell on the floor. Another favorite was the story of her father’s bakery truck and the day his horse went wild. Beatrice passed away in 1984 just as ENF’s founders, including Leslie, were submitting their first proposal to become Entre Nous Femmes Housing Society. She would have been very proud of her granddaughter and Leslie believes that within the walls of this building rests her grandmother’s sense of light, laughter and joyousness.