A memorial service for Lili Bermant will be held later.
The late Lili Bermant, of Amherst, is seen in this undated family photograph.AMHERST - The Amethyst Brook trail that straddles Amherst and Pelham was Lili Bermant’s favorite place to hike, her son Charles Bermant said.
She had hiked it before and so on Mother’s Day Lili Bermant and her daughter Julie Bermant went back there for a hike and a picnic.
But less than an hour into the hike, Bermant, who was 83, tripped and fell 20 or 30 feet and died.
But as Charles Bermant of Port Townsend, WA. said, “She died doing what she loved. She was really happy.”
Yet, he and his sister are in still shock that their mother, who he said had more energy for hiking than he does at 57, is gone.
As the path of the trail climbs, the trail narrows to about two or three feet and becomes risky, said Pelham Police Chief Gary L. Thomann. “You have to watch your footing,” he said. This is the first time, though, that someone has died there he said in the 23 years he as been on the force. There are no warning signs, which he said wouldn’t hurt to have posted.
Still Bermant had been to the top before.
Hiking was Lili Bermant’s mother’s favorite thing to do, her son said.
His mother moved to town in 2009 to be closer to her daughter, Julie Bermant, who has lived in town since the mid 1980s. She had been living in Maryland and was a mediator in Montgomery County, in private practice with her husband Ozzie Bermant until his death in 1998.
She then was appointed an in-house mediator for Montgomery County Circuit Courts where she conducted family mediation, primarily in Spanish, retiring when she was well past her 80th birthday, according to the obituary Charles Bermant wrote.
His mother loved to travel. “She was very curious,” he said. She traveled to Vietnam, China and to Africa as well as to Europe. her sister lived in Geneva, but died a few years ago. “She was always doing physical stuff,” he said.
She was born Aug. 13, 1927 in Antwerp, Belgium but her family fled the Nazi’s when she was 13, he said. The family settled in Cuba for several years before being able to come to this country. His mother then earned a degree at Brooklyn College in Brooklyn N.Y.
English was his mother’s fifth language.
Besides her son and daughter, she is survived by granddaughter Mira Farkas of Amherst.
The family is asking that contributions be made to Partners in Health, 888 Commonwealth Ave., 3rd Floor Boston, MA 02215.
A memorial service is pending and will be announced by the family. For more information contact rememberlili@lbermant.com.