Bertha W. Hope

On Tuesday, November 29, 2005, at 8:15 a.m. at the Bon Secours Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, our dearly beloved and cherished angel, Bertha Woodard Hope, departed for home. Born May 12, 1914, in Ridgeway, South Carolina, she was the third child of eleven children born to the late John and Milanne Kennedy Woodard. Bertha was united in marriage to the late Thomas Hope in Irmo, South Carolina on October 26, 1939, later moving to Washington, D.C. After relocating to D.C. she joined the Metropolitan Baptist Church where she attended for many years. She later moved her membership and denomination to the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church family in the early 1960's. Here at St. Paul A.M.E. Church she became an active and dedicated member of the Marjorie E. Bourne Missionary Society, the President of the Nurses Unit for several years, the Boosters Club and the Trustee Helpers. Keeping faith in God and trusting in his word she was a faithful and devoted member of the St. Paul A.M.E. Church Family. Being a family-oriented and Christian woman, she cared for and loved her family. Not only did she love her own family but she opened up her heart and home in the 1970's and became a foster parent. To this she gave her love to ten foster children whom she loved equally and individually. Raising them as her very own and giving each one of them her most rewarding gift of all, love, and a family they could call their own. With her outpouring love she gave to all the children, they all respected, and loved her unconditionally calling her "Ma" or "Mommy", and she would not have had it any other way. She leaves to cherish her beautiful memory: two daughters, LaVerne Green and Kim Trantham of Washington, D.C.; two sons, Peter Trantham of Fredericksburg, Va. and David Mann of Capital Heights, Md.; two sisters, Margaret Woodard Hill (Robert) of Baltimore, Md., Hattie Robinson of Detroit, Mich.; one brother, Matthew Woodward (Elizabeth) of Ridgeway, S.C.; three grandsons, Steven (Shalisha), Michael and Darrell Green of Washington, D.C.; three granddaughters, Tashia, Scheryl and Kelley Duarte of Washington, D.C.; two great granddaughters; Sydney and Skylar Green of Washington, D.C.; three goddaughters, Lynnette Moore, Patricia Nichols-Jackson and Arlene Watkins; and a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives, friends and her St. Paul A.M.E. Church Family.

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Bertha W. Hope

May 2, 1914 - November 29, 2005