Bertha (Barz) ALDRICH

ALDRICH, BARZ, OLESON, SCHEID, EMERSON, KELEHER, RIETZ

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/16/2011 at 17:08:21

November 30, 1935 --- July 9, 2011

Bertha Barz Aldrich, 75, of Alden, died on Saturday, July 9, 2011, at the Israel Family Hospice House in Ames. Her body was cremated and will be interred in the Graceland Cemetery near Rowan. A celebration of life will be held later.

Bertha was born during a snowstorm on a farm four miles south of Dows, on November 30, 1935, the fourth child of Herbert and Margaret Oleson Barz. She grew up on a farm three miles south of Rowan and graduated from the Rowan High School in 1953. She was a member of the Blaine Livewires 4-H Club and showed her Ayrshire dairy cattle at the Wright County Fair. She was the catcher on the Dows All Stars girls softball team for many years, a team coached by her uncle, Ernest Barz. She was also an outstanding high school basketball player at Rowan. Bertha married Jerry Aldrich on September 20, 1953 and the couple had three children. After his graduation from Iowa State College, Bertha followed her husband to El Paso, Texas, while he was in the military. They later resided on farms near Popejoy, Alden, Grand Forks, North Dakota and back to Alden, where they lived at the time of her death.

She worked at Schager Produce in Alden, the Sears catalog store in Iowa Falls, at Weaver Construction and finally spent 20 years as a rural mail carrier. She had stints as a girls basketball chaperone and as a Cub Scout den mother. Upon retirement in 2000, she helped her husband with their Christmas tree farm and pursued many hobbies, flower and pond gardening, making stained glass windows and Tiffany style lamps, traveling, quilting, reading and competing as a senior athlete. In grade and high school she spent many hours working with her horse, Lucky. In mid-life she acquired Arabians, of which she was quite proud. As an adult she loved track and field. She competed at the state level and at seven Senior Olympics. She earned over 200 gold medals at the state level and seven Senior Olympic medals in cycling (road racing), race walking, shot put and discus.

She was preceded in death by her parents; brother and spouse, Bob (Barbara) Barz; and sister-in-law, Donna (Bill) Barz. She is survived by her husband; children, Steve (Nancy) of Dows, Doug (Gwen) of Bemidji, Minnesota and Carol (Steve) Scheid of Nevada; grandsons, Danial Scheid of Dubuque and Brian (Sarah) Scheid of Chicago; granddaughter, Dawn (Seth) Emerson of Fleetwood, North Carolina; brother, Bill of Newton; sister, Irene (Bob) Keleher of Fremont, California; brother-in-law, Lee (Lynne) Aldrich and sister-in-law, Joan (Roger) Rietz of Rowan.

July 12, 2011
Belmond Independent - Belmond, Iowa