Beatrice “Bea” Lambert
Year Inducted: 2013
Birthday: September 3, 1911
Died: March 25, 2005
City/Town: Berlin, NH
The late Beatrice Lambert’s title with the Berlin Maroons was secretary. Her life around hockey merits a label much more layered than that.
A Berlin native and lifelong hockey fan, Lambert watched the growth of the Berlin Maroons from that club’s infancy in 1937-38 to its national amateur championship in 1954, and came aboard as its secretary in the 1950s. She spearheaded fund-raising to keep the club afloat during lean times and became the first woman to serve on the board of directors of the New England Amateur Hockey Association.
Fund-raiser, publicist, statistician…Lambert wore many hats in her service to the Maroons, who played in the NEAHA through 1972.
“She was part of that glue that kept the legendary Berlin Maroons together and built them up to be twice national champions in the 1960s,” said Berlin historian Walter Nadeau, who nominated her for induction, “and continued to promote and build hockey as the first female to serve on the New England Amateur Hockey Association board of directors.” Lambert graduated from Berlin High School in 1929 and was hired by the city of Berlin as the Bookkeeper for the Welfare Department in 1934. By the 1950s she was fully involved as the Secretary for the Maroons, organizing fund-raising and writing up publicity for the local newspapers.
In 1959, as the Maroons officially became incorporated, Lambert was formally elected as the Secretary and Bookkeeper. According to Nadeau, she and Al Adams (Class of 2002) and Clarence Lessard were “the glue” that held the Maroons together for the next decade-plus. Lambert dutifully recorded the minutes at the Maroons’ board meetings, organized fund-raising events, served as team statistician and handled payroll.
For 10 years, beginning in 1968, she served on the board of directors of the New England Amateur Hockey Association. She was a director for three years and then NEAHA Secretary for another seven. She was also named “Miss Hockey of New England” by the U.S. Amateur Hockey Association.
She played a role in the building of a new hockey arena in Berlin after the tragic cave-in of Notre Dame Arena in 1969. Her fund-raising and tireless work helped the new building be ready for hockey less than a year later.
Lambert was a friend to many local sports organizations, including Little League baseball and youth hockey.
