Gerig, Bertha Boshart (1905-1985)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 30 May 1985 p. 11

Birth date: 1905

text of obituary:

BERTHA GERIG

Bertha Gerig was born April 2, 1905, in Milford, Neb., the 11th of 14 children of Jacob Buerge and Mary Reck Boshart. She died in Lebanon, Ore., on Easter Sunday, April 7, 1985, at the age of 80.

At the age of 12, she began a spiritual quest that continued throughout her lifetime. She wrote many years later, “The world became new. . . . I had become a new creature in Christ Jesus, and his Word became food for a starving soul.”

She moved with her family to Oregon in 1918, settling near Albany.

On Oct. 20, 1921, she was married to Henry C. Gerig, with whom she shared more than 60 years. He preceded her in death on Aug. 23, 1982.

She was an energetic person, always filling her hours with useful tasks. She was an avid reader. She also spent many hours with her Bibles, and they bear testimony to her relationship to the Lord. She spent many hours praying for her children, and was a driving force in their salvation.

Surviving are four daughters, Marjorie Nofziger of Chicago, Shirley Call and Grace Miller of Lebanon, Ore., and Virginia Gerig of Long Beach, Calif.; three sons, Henry C., Jr., of Lebanon, Ore., Paul of Portland, Ore., and Rex of Milwaukee, Ore.; 22 grandchildren; and 23 great-grandchildren.