Obituary of Beth E. Gilchriest

Beth Elaine Gilchriest died on December 18, 2019 at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse. She was 66. She was born to parents John and Mary (Brady) Gilchriest on July 18, 1953 in Malone, New York. The family soon moved to Syracuse, where Beth lived most of her life. She turned her education at Le Moyne College into a rock star career. Her professional successes included a sales leadership position at Hewlett-Packard, where she sold state-of-the-art equipment to hospitals. But it was her personal life that really gets top billing. Beth saw herself as a solution to others’ problems. Don’t have transportation to your medical appointment? Beth volunteered to drive you. Need someone who could listen? Beth’s phone was on speed-dial. Beth even quit her job to become her mother’s full-time caregiver. Add in a love of musicals, Hitchcock movies, and of being an aunt…Beth found joy in life. About being Aunt Beth: she never had children of her own, but try telling that to her abundant nieces and nephews. As they grew up, they could count on her to attend special school and family events. Year after year, they relished countless hours on the phone in deep conversation. They knew Aunt Beth was always rooting for their success. How proud she was of them. How much she supported them and loved them. Beth saw profound contentment in this beautiful and sacred family role, one that came naturally to her. Beth was preceded in death by her parents and by her sister Bernadette (Gilchriest) Penoyer Cigler. Beth’s star shone in a constellation of sisters. They are: Dorothy (Eric) Hollyoak, Diane Gilchriest, Regina (Chris) Clark, Rita (Gilchriest) Boskovski, Mary Gilchriest; and brothers: Timothy, Paul, John, Peter, and James (Julie); she will be greatly missed by the aforementioned nieces and nephews. Funeral services will be Saturday, December 28 at 10am at the Goddard-Crandall-Shepardson Funeral Home and a funeral mass at 10:30 in Blessed Sacrament Church in Eastwood. Calling hours are Friday, December 27, 4-7 p.m. at the funeral home, 3111 James St. Syracuse. In a private ceremony, Beth will be interred with her parents at Assumption Cemetery, Syracuse. Instead of flowers…actually, Beth would have loved flowers! What she would have loved even more was volunteer contributions in her name. You may wish to donate your time and presence to those in need, especially the elderly.