June Allard Berte, 89, of The Villages, FL passed away into eternal rest on Friday, Feb 3, 2023. She passed away peacefully and without pain. She was born in Springfield, MA on June 24, 1933 to the late Wilfred and Aurise Allard.
June is predeceased by her husband, Dr. Raymond A. Berte who was the love of her life for 45 years of marriage.
She leaves behind her two children: son, Raymond Keith Berte and his wife Roberta of San Jose, CA., and daughter, Ruth Jennifer Marchitto and her husband Louis of The Villages, FL., and granddaughter, Natasha Schenk. She also leaves her brothers: Leonard E. Allard and his wife Dorothy of Lancaster, CA and predeceased by Herbert Allard of Springfield, MA.
June was born in Springfield MA, and from the beginning her artistic gift flourished. She started sketching and sewing at the Boys and Girls Club of Springfield. She attended Technical High School of Springfield and studied fashion illustration at Traphagen School of Design in New York. She enjoyed 28 years of fashion illustration with: Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue, McCalls Magazine, G.Fox and Co, Sage Allen and lastly at Steiger’s in Springfield MA. She foresaw the end of fashion illustration with the use of photography and moved on to become a portraitist using other artistic mediums to create portraits and still life’s using oil’s and pastel’s. June continued to learn and develop her tremendous skills. She studied under several distinguished artists, David Leffel, Daniel Green and Harley Brown. She was a prolific painter, her works are in many private collections, restaurants and corporate boardrooms. In addition, she has appeared in numerous juried shows and one woman shows in AZ, CT, MA, OH and FL. Her talents were not limited to a canvas. She had an incredible vision for interior design. Her use of colors and creativity brought new life to many homes, decorator showcases, restaurants, and offices. She was the subject of several art books, her illustrations and painting appeared in newspapers, fashion magazines and books. She wrote and illustrated a children’s book, “Diogee”, and loved to share her gift of art with others through workshops and demonstrations. Her mind never stopped imagining new paintings that she wanted to create. Her prolific creative talents and artistic gifts will be sorely missed, but her memory will live on in our hearts forever.
Her funeral services and burial will be private. There are no visiting hours. In lieu of flowers, donations should be directed to: Springfield College, 263 Alden Street, Springfield MA 01109-3739 with a memo for Raymond Berte Rehabilitation Award.
