\t\t\tJean Boyda Powers \t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tOBITUARY\t\t<\/p>\n
Jean \u201cJeanie\u201d Powers, 78, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, passed away peacefully at home on October 12, 2024, following a courageous battle with Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n
\nJeanie served as a Northampton County Court Advocate for Turning Point of the Lehigh Valley, assisting victims of domestic abuse in Protection from Abuse hearings. She previously worked nearly 20 years as a paralegal and notary for Kevin J. Kelleher, Esquire, and earlier at Bethlehem Steel in the Finance and Law Department. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, she was the daughter of the late John and Eleanor (Sherman) Boyda and a devoted member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Bethlehem. Jeanie attended schools in Forty Fort, graduated from Parkland High School and Northampton County Community College\u2014where she earned her paralegal certification and the Outstanding Legal Graduate Award. She later received a B.S. in Public Administration and Economics from Cedar Crest College and a Master\u2019s degree from Lehigh University.<\/p>\n
\nActive in her community, Jeanie served as president of the AAUW\u2013Bethlehem Branch, the Lehigh\u2013Northampton Counties Legal Secretaries Association, the Associates of Vietnam Veterans (with VVA Chapter #415), the Bethlehem Junior Woman\u2019s Club, and the Washington Avenue West Townhouses Condominium Association. She also served on the boards of the Children\u2019s Theater of Bethlehem, the Lehigh\u2013Northampton Counties Legal Support Staff Association, and the Lehigh County Children & Youth Advisory Board. A talented singer, Jeanie performed with the Masterworks Chorale at Cedar Crest College, was a soloist at St. Paul\u2019s Church in Catasauqua, and served as cantor, soloist, and first soprano at Our Lady of Perpetual Help. She also sang with the Lehigh University Choral Union.<\/p>\n
\nJeanie received the 2009 Northampton County Department of Human Services Outstanding Senior Award and the AAUW\u2013Bethlehem Branch Outstanding Woman Award. A graduate of the first City of Bethlehem Citizens\u2019 Academy, she served as liaison to Mayor John Callahan and helped coordinate the Maze Garden project at South New and West Third Streets with the South Side Gardens Group and Lehigh University. She also loved gardening\u2014especially her 50 rose bushes\u2014and continued tending flowers on her porch and deck. She was passionate about architecture, planning, and zoning, and was an avid reader and member of AAUW\u2019s Paperback II Book Group.<\/p>\n
\nJeanie is survived by her husband of 11 years, Gary P. Powers, her grandson Kein Yuge of Bethlehem, and Gary\u2019s children Ali, Sarah, and Matt, and their families.<\/p>\n
\nA Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, November 11, 2025, at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, 3219 Santee Road, Bethlehem, with visitation from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. at the church. Interment will be private in the Sherman family plot, Lorraine Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland.<\/p>\n
\nIn lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Turning Point of Lehigh Valley, 444 Susquehanna St., Allentown, PA 18103 or Our Lady of Perpetual Help, 3219 Santee Rd. Bethlehem, PA 18020 in memory of Jeanie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jean Boyda Powers OBITUARY Jean \u201cJeanie\u201d Powers, 78, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, passed away peacefully at home on October…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-29089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}