Sept. 18, 1912—Oct. 28, 2009

Regina C. Belter, an elementary school teacher in Sloan and North Tonawanda for 38 years, died Wednesday in Our Lady of Peace Nursing Home, Lewiston. She was 97.

Born Regina Cherry in Buffalo, she graduated from East High School and Buffalo State College.

Mrs. Belter spent the bulk of her career as a fourth-grade teacher, first at Woodrow Wilson School in Sloan and then at Gratwick and Col. Payne schools in North Tonawanda. She had a kind and nurturing nature approach but also required discipline from her students, said her son, Paul J. She retired in 1978.

Mrs. Belter helped found the bereavement committee at North Tonawanda’s Our Lady of Czestochowa Catholic Church and was a member of the DeGraff Memorial Hospital Ladies’ Auxiliary and the Western New York Retired Teachers.

Her husband of 46 years, Leonard, died in 1984.

In addition to her son, Mrs. Belter is survived by a daughter, Patricia.

A memorial service will be scheduled.