Every family has at least one Aunt Bertha and every family has a bossy lady who tries to be the head of everything. My Great Aunt Bertha was both!
Aunt Bertha was married two times and never had any kids. Her first husband was Bob Dalton. She was married very young to him then she married Bob Page, Yep another Bob, and he died after only 6 years. She lived the rest of her life alone and it couldn't have been easy then but she worked and bought her own home. If it needed repairs she did it. Roof or whatever it was. The house is still here in the town of Mulberry but it certainly doesn't look like it did then.
You talk about feisty, Good Grief That don't begin to describe Aunt Bertha. A dare devil in her younger years, a holy terror in her later years. Not rude or brash just straight and to the point. Don't try any nonsense with my Aunt Bertha cause' she'd get you fast.
Aunt Bertha was my Grandma's sister and thought she was the only one in the family who had enough sense to make any kind of intelligent decision. She bought a whole set of Dr's books used in their schooling at that time and by golly she thought she was a Dr and knew more than any Dr of that time. To tell the truth she did know more than some of them.
Her Mother, My Great Grandma, lived with her after a while. Then her Sister, my Great Aunt Bea, moved in after her husband died. My Grandma who was another Sister moved in eventually. Their Brother, my Uncle Hooker, even lived there for a while and Uncle Hooker's son Pat lived with them for several years. Aunt Bertha was the head Lion and ruled. I didn't think much about it then but I'm sure there was a lot of conflict at times. I spent nights there occasionally and every time I went to the bathroom she would come in to see what I was doing.
She was a little 5 ft. lady that weighed 90 lbs soaking wet but man was she wired and loaded for bear.
There was a loving gentle side to Aunt Bertha as well and that is the side I saw most often. She'd work cutting spinach or picking cotton all day and always gave us a nickle out of her earnings. She bought material and sent it to my grandma so grandma could make my Mamma and her two sisters a dress to wear to school. They didn't have a dress at the time and were wearing a bloomer type thing that grandma made out of a flower sack.
Aunt Bertha is the one who named me when I was born. I told her often that she could have chosen a prettier name.
She had curly and unruly hair like mine. My Grandma always said I looked like Aunt Bertha and my Daddy said I acted like her sometimes. HMMMM! Guess I got a lot from my Aunt Bertha. HUH?
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