Elmont’s ‘Mom’ will be missed

Since the early 1950s, when local children would come from all corners of Elmont to watch television at the Garnetts, one of the first families on their block to own a TV, Berthenia Garnett was a community caretaker. Garnett, a mother of four, stepmother of two and volunteer at the Emanuel Baptist Church, died on April 1. She was 103.

Bill Garnett, Berthenia’s son, said he fondly remembers bringing several friends home from school to see his mother and to watch his family’s then acclaimed TV, which was such a new model that the family could only put a down payment on it, and had to put quarters in it for every two hours of use.

“The kids would even sometimes bring quarters,” Bill recalled, laughing. Berthenia, or “Mom,” as she preferred to be called, enjoyed cooking big meals for the family’s regular visitors and genuinely liked taking care of people. “In the community, she was like a ‘watch-mom,’ because all the kids in the neighborhood that we knew were always at our house, mainly because of the TV,” Bill said. “She had the temperament of a saint, and that reflected in her work with the church.”

For more than 60 years, Garnett was a member of Emanuel Baptist, on Pelham Street in Elmont, and she volunteered for the church in almost every capacity. After she and her husband, William, moved to Elmont from Willington, S.C., in 1941, she volunteered for the church’s missionary circle; as a deaconess; as a member of the church’s flower circle, which worked to ensure that church events had flowers; and as a senior choir member. She was even part of the culinary staff when she was needed. William worked full-time as a janitor at George’s Fine Furniture in Hempstead, and part-time at the First Baptist Church of Hempstead.

Berthenia didn’t just help take care of Emanuel Baptist; she cared for others in the community as well, taking in people who needed a place to stay or a good meal. “Whoever was in need of something, she was there, if she could help you,” Bill said.

Berthenia was also a longtime member of the Jamaica Square Improvement League. “She was always looking to improve her community,” said Claudine Hall, president of the organization. “She was always concerned about the community and the people around her.”