Bertha Lee Walden

Bertha L. Walden Bertha Lee Walden, 88, of Denver, Colorado, passed away April 15, 2005 in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. She was born January 28, 1917 in Waverly, Illinois to Charles Lowry and Nora Ella Proctor Lowry. She married Wesley G. Walden who preceded her in death in 1991. She is survived by daughters, Karla Walden; Kay (Steve) Savage; son-in-law, Ezra Ollenburger Jr.; grandchildren, E.J. and Evan Ollenburger, Conan Savage, and Brooke (John) McAdam. She was preceded in death by daughter, Karen Ollenburger. A visitation will be held at Horan & McConaty, 1091 South Colorado Blvd., on Tuesday, April 19th, from 6:00-8:00pm. A graveside service will be held on Wednesday, April 20th, at 9:00am, Ft. Logan National Cemetery, 3698 South Sheridan Blvd., Denver. (Please gather at Staging Area 'B' by 8:50am). A TRIBUTE TO BERTHA (written by daughter, Karla) When Bertha Walden was born in Waverly, Illinois, in January, 1917, she was the last of 10 children. Her mother was already 45 years old. Her parents, Nora Ella and Charles Lowry, were tenant farmers near Jacksonville, Illinois, and had what sounded like a pretty hard life. A very cold night in the winter spent on a straw mattress, under feather comforters, meant waking up to a water bucket that had frozen inside the house. It was a fun life for a kid, though, and Bertha loved the farm animals, her dog Ringadoodle, and living in the country. It gave her a love of natural beauty. She always enjoyed her roses and flowers. When you'd go for a ride in the car with her, what she'd notice were always the beautiful things that were growing all around. Country life may have also been what made her accept people as the natural creatures they are, without judging or criticizing them. She often remarked that whatever someone was doing or being was 'just their nature.' Most of Bertha's brothers and sisters were already grown and gone from home by the time she was born, but she still had her favorite sister, Helen, to walk the long distance to the one-room school house heated by a coal stove, where the younger pupils learned a lot by listening to students in the upper grades recite their lessons. Bertha had chronic asthma as a child and had scarlet fever, which left her partially deaf and with an ear that bothered her most of her life. Her health caused her to miss a lot of school, but Helen helped her with her studies. In the high school she attended in Literberry, Bertha excelled in track and field events, especially the 50- and 100-yard dash and relays. She also won first place in a contest for a reading she gave. She attended the Baptist church, went to square dances, and went on double dates with Helen. Bertha's suffered from poor health during her late teens and early 20's. Her asthma was very bad, but her mother always nursed her back to health with home remedies. Bertha often marveled at what a long life she had had, given her poor early health. When her health improved, she worked at several jobs in Jacksonville'""in a bakery, in the post office, as a clerk in a grocery store, and babysitting a friend's three children. When she heard the news of the bombing of Pearl Harbor on the radio, she determined that she would do something to serve her country, and in 1942 she enlisted in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. She was inducted in Des Moines, Iowa, where she also had her basic training. She was then stationed in Boston and assigned to the aircraft warning service. She enjoyed exploring the city in her free time and liked the friendly people of Boston. She was promoted to Private First Class the first week she was there, and soon afterward was made a Sergeant T4. She was reassigned to Camp Polk, Louisiana, for further training. She found the climate unbearable; you could wash your hair or clothes in the evening, and they'd still be wet in the morning. From Camp Polk, she was re-stationed to Camp Stoneman near San Francisco. Her assignment was to Publications, where Wesley Walden was in charge. On the day she first walked into the Publications office and met him, she went back to the barracks and told her girlfriends, 'I've just met the man I'm going to marry.' That was lucky for Wes because Bertha was a knockout'""tall and very slender, with black hair and flawless porcelain skin'""and if she hadn't been as interested in him as he was in her, he would no doubt have had some serious competition. They dated and had romantic times, dining at the top of the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco. But, the time came to be discharged from the Army'""for Wes because it was the end of his service, and for Bertha because the WAAC's were becoming part of the regular Army. Wes went home to Denver to visit his family, and Bertha went home to Illinois to visit hers. They corresponded. Wes traveled to Illinois to see her and meet her family'""and to take her to Chicago to marry her. That was September, 1943. Bertha was 26, and Wes was 31. Wes had a very close-knit family, so Bertha agreed to move to Denver, where he was in the furniture business with his father and brother. They lived in an apartment at first and then bought a house on Oneida Street in Bonnie Brae. In 1946, their daughter, Karen (who passed away on July 4, 2003), was born; and two years later, Karla was. In 1951, they bought a Burns home in a new housing development at 2980 S. Vine, which at the time was considered more or less the boondocks. Bertha was a great homemaker and talented seamstress, and she sewed pretty matching dresses with pinafores for her two little girls. She was a kind and loving mother, and had a very gentle and subtle way of expecting good behavior. Wes's mother, Flossie, introduced Bertha to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church), and she was baptized in 1955. She was a dedicated member with a strong testimony of the gospel and a love of God and Jesus Christ until the day she died. She will be buried in her temple garments, which are a symbol of the experiences she had and the ordinances she participated in at the Denver Temple. She worked for many years in the Ward and Stake 'Primary' organization teaching children, and was active in the 'Relief Society' organization for women members, putting on dinners for the Ward, making meals for the missionaries, visiting the ladies of the Ward, making quilts, and so forth. The church was very faithful in bringing the gospel and the Sacrament to her during her time at the nursing home, and she was very grateful for that. Around 1954, Wes and Bertha moved to a home near Washington Park. When Kay was born, in 1955, the house was too small for the family, and they moved to a lovely two-story home on Corona Street, a block from Wash. Park. Bertha wasn't as fond of the old houses as people are today, and she and Wes put a lot of work into modernizing and remodeling it. Karen's problems with asthma and eczema were becoming increasingly severe, and Bertha showed much love and patience in caring for her for the rest of the time Karen lived at home '"" in much the same way her mother had nursed her through her own childhood illnesses. Bertha's father died in 1955, and her mother in 1958. That was a very sad time for her because she loved them both dearly. Being the youngest child in the family, by the end of her life, all of her brothers and sisters had long since passed away, and she really missed them. In 1960, Bertha and Wes moved to the neighborhood east of Wash. Park and lived in two successive houses in the 300 block of South Race'""just down the street from each other. When she was about 45, Bertha went to work for 10 years as a salesperson at the old Gano Downs store, and at The Denver Dry and at Joseph Magnin in Cherry Creek. With her wonderful taste and sense of style, and her graciousness toward her customers, she soon became very successful at it and enjoyed being able to give her daughters some luxuries the family couldn't otherwise have afforded. In spite of having a job, she continued to keep a beautiful home and to cook delicious meals, especially for family holiday gatherings. She was a very organized and competent person and made everything that took so much effort on her part look easy. She retired in her mid-50's to enjoy retirement with Wes. They loved to go to garage sales together, work on projects in the house and the garden, and spend time with Karen's and Kay's children, E.J., Evan, Conan, and Brooke. She really enjoyed that time in her life. She took care of Wes at home for the four years of his final illness from emphysema and lung cancer and said she was glad they could be together until the end. Just before he passed away in 1991, after 46 years of marriage, he said he was just sorry they hadn't met sooner so they could have spent more time together! They just never seemed to stop being in love. After his death, she had to adjust to being on her own. She said that one day she had a realization she was going to be o.k., and she proceeded to make the most of the time she had left. She renewed her interests in the Church, in cooking and gardening, and in genealogy. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution through her great, great, great grandfather, Little Page Proctor, and served in many positions in the DAR Peace Pipe Chapter, often as Chaplain. Though she was a very shy and private person, she was a natural as Chaplain. Her prayers reflected a true thankfulness and spirituality. She loved going to garage sales with Karla, and one Saturday in 1992, she ran into a woman at one of them who had also been a WAAC. Bertha then joined the Mile Hi WAAC veterans chapter and liked being with other women who had shared the War-time WAAC experience. She adopted a very wild stray cat named Thomasina, who immediately started following her around the house and sleeping right up next to her in bed. When it became too hard to maintain the house at 1075 S. Harrison, where she and Wes had lived for over 20 years, she moved to a retirement high rise and enjoyed the company of the nice people in the dining room. Unfortunately, that pleasant time came to an end when she suffered several back fractures and had to through a long and painful hospitalization and convalescence. She wasn't able to return to her apartment and she became a resident at the Christian Living Campus nursing home, where she lived for six years until her passing. Living in a nursing home is not easy, but she showed extraordinary tolerance, sweetness, and forbearance. Bertha loved beauty'""the beauty of nature, of the soul, and of character. She displayed a philosophical acceptance of life and people as she found them. She said more than once that she just felt sorry for everyone and their troubles. But she had a great sense of humor, too, and liked to laugh. When I find myself in a new'""and, especially, a difficult'""situation, I often picture in my mind how she would handle it. She will always be with us because of the lovely example she set. She is more than a memory; she is a living presence. She will be greatly missed.