Willie Bea Thorpe

Willie Bea Thorpe, 88, of Pottstown, PA , passed away at Tower Health Pottstown Hospital on January 8, 2024. She was born to the late Mary Willie Cooper Allen and Thomas Allen, Sr. in Stem, NC on August 19, 1935. She attended school at GC Hawley High School in Creedmoor, NC, where she completed the 11th grade. She married Willie Thorpe, Jr in 1954 and together they had 4 children. They were the first in the family to move to Pottstown in 1957.

Willie Bea worked as a dietary aide for 25 years at the Pottstown Hospital where she retired in 2004. She was a long-time member of Friendship Baptist Church in Pottstown. She enjoyed cooking, spending time with her children/grandchildren, reading the newspaper and attending her children and grandchildren’s sport and academic events. Willie Bea was well-known for remembering family birthdays and sending birthday cards for their birthday. She loved talking on the telephone, sitting on her porch, and speaking to everyone who walked by. You could always catch her on the phone with her best friend, Alice Sanford , sister-in-law Dorothy Thorpe, and long-time friend, Lori Fox. She raised and helped take care not only her own children and grandchildren, but the neighbor’s children as well. A wife, mother , grandmother, great grandmother, sister, aunt, cousin, neighbor and friend. Wilie Bea was always willing to help all in need. Willie Bea was happily married to Willie Thorpe, Jr. for 69 years.

She leaves to cherish her memory, her husband, Willie Thorpe , Jr. of Pottstown, PA; 4 children, Willie Thorpe III, Joseph Thorpe, Tammy Thorpe, and Marla Thorpe, all of Pottstown, PA; 5 sisters, Geraldine June (Franklin) of Mitchellville, MD, Lucy Sanford (John William) of Butner, NC, Minnie Vinson of Lancaster, PA , Shirley Allen of Mitchellville, MD, Virginia Ruffin of York, PA; 3 brothers, Bobby Allen of Oxford, NC , Thomas Allen, Jr (Helen) of South Hill, VA and Wilie “Archie” Allen of Pottstown, PA, 4 brother-in-laws, Johnny “Boot” Thorpe (Helen), Nelson “Shorty” Thorpe (late Dorothy “Maxine”) all of Pottstown, PA and Wallace Thorpe (Ora) of Stem, N.C., the late Elbert “Vice” Thorpe, 4 sister-in-laws, Susie Mae Cooper (Late Clee Cooper) of Stem, N. C., Gertrude Thorpe of Harlem, NY, Florine Stinson (Randy) and Lillie Bea Jones (Elijah, Sr.) both of Pottstown, PA, 7 grandchildren, 2 great grandchildren , and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. She was predeceased by a son, Robert Allen and brothers, Neal Lawrence Allen and William Allen.