Bertha A. Baughman

Bertha Allene Baughman was born on November 25, 1919 to Mr. Dean Jones and his wife Bertha Fern. Her mother never went by the name Bertha, preferring her middle name of Fern. Bertha was the second oldest of five children. In order of birth they were named Floyd, Bertha, Kenneth, Orville, and the youngest was Bertha's little sister, Norma.

The family lived on a small farm in Paonia, Colorado located up the Minnesota creek. The house that they lived in was very small made of unfinished wood. It looked a great deal like the house on the television show, "Little House on the Prarie." The land they farmed was not particularly rich land, but they only just scratched out a living with Bertha's father, Dean, taking on additional odd jobs when he could. They raised mainly hay along with the usual home vegetables. Bertha, being the oldest daughter, assisted her mother Fern in attending to all the younger children. Dean and Fern attended the tiny local Seventh-Day Adventist church.

Bertha graduated from Paonia High School in 1937 at the height of the great depression. It would be impossible to overstate how tough times were in backwoods Colorado with the surrounding coal mines running at less than half capacity. Bertha decided to try the big city, so she moved to Denver, Colorado. She obtained employment with the SDA church local church conference center as a secretary and bookkeeper. She lived with a roommate by the name of Grace until Grace married. Bertha was maid of honor at Grace's wedding and the two remained best friends throughout their lives. Grace visited Bertha as recently as last Christmas.

Bertha met her soon to be husband Norman at church, having been introduced by a mutual friend. It was love at first sight. The couple courted for a short time, and then wed on May 10, 1951. They lived in Denver while they scrimped and saved so that Norman could attend medical school in Loma Linda, California. Norman was accepted to medical school at Loma Linda so the couple along with their recently born son, Ronald, moved to California. During their move and while crossing Utah, Bertha was driving the couple's car that had a trailer attached to it. Norman was driving a car for which he was being paid to take to California, and Norman was ahead of Bertha. In his rearview mirror, Norman saw the trailer attached to Bertha's car begin to sway, then swing back and forth across the lane. Suddenly the trailer and car both veered off the highway and flipped over into the surrounding countryside. Norman rushed back to attend to his wife. Of particular note, only 15 or so minutes before, the couple had stopped at a gas station, and at that time Norman had taken baby Ron to ride with him for awhile. This was a time long before car seats and seatbelts. Bertha was badly bruised and shaken up, and her major injury was broken collar bone. She was taken back to the nearest hospital which was in Grand Junction. Her injuries were attended to, but the couple didn't make it out to California that Summer. Bertha recouped at her parent's house in Paonia where her mother could help tend to both her and Ron. Norman eventually went on ahead to California to make living arrangements and finish enrollment in med school.

The couple reunited in Loma Linda and Norman began school, while Bertha took care of Ron and their home. She also started babysitting other children during the day to earn extra money for the family. During the Summer of 1955, their second son, Gary, was born. The couple had to move to Los Angeles to the Boyle Heights area because at that time the last two years of medical school were taught at the White Memorial Hospital.

The couple moved back to Loma Linda upon Norman's graduation, and in 1958 they moved into the house that they resided in and called home for the rest of their lives. In was located on the old Loma Linda hill - the hill beautiful. Bertha took great pride in her calling to be a homemaker and to raise and tend to her family. She was up at 6a.m. to put a warm breakfast on the table before work and school, and had a simple, but nutrious supper ready in the evening. She was famous for her Apple Pies, Baked Apples, Tamale Pot Pies, Tuna Noodle Casserole, chicken fried steak, and her special stuffed celery. Holidays and birthdays were a special event for her, and for which she would invariably cook up quite a feast.

Bertha was active in and participated in the children's PTA , class activities and outings. Bertha was also active in doing volunteer work through the SDA church. She volunteered as a driver for ACTS for over 20 years. She instilled in her two sons her Dodger blue pride. Norman had little interest in sports, but Bertha and the boys would often listen to Dodger games on the radio. No one was rooting more for Maury Wills to break Tye Cobb's base stealing record than Bertha and her two sons. Later, Gary and his wife Susan would often take Bertha to baseball games where they cheered on the home team.

After her sons went on to medical and law school, Bertha decided to do something she'd always wanted to do, travel. While her husband Norman had no interest in traveling, Bertha certainly did. She began to take local excursions through a church travel group. She went to see Hearst Castle, the Huntington Library, San Diego, and other local tours and destinations. She often visited family in Colorado, and Indiana where her oldest son Ron lived. Bertha also went on other longer excursions with a church travel group to Hawaii, Yellowstone, New York city, and Washington DC. Bertha went with her sister Norma and brother Orville on a grand driving trip up to see Alaska. That had to be some trip for Orville, because both Bertha and Norma could be incredibly head strong when they were together. Bertha kept little keepsakes and photographs from all her trips.

Right up until the end, Bertha took care of Norman and followed with great interest her son's family's developments and activities. Bertha was a person of only small personal needs, taking pride in her family's accomplishments. Bertha followed with great interest and pride her grandchildren's lives and accomplishments. Her one personal "extravagance" was having her hair done every Friday. She and her husband loved to go several places, In no particular order these included, Fedco, Costco, Sam's Club, Furr's, King's Table, Griswold's, Soup Exchange, Soup Plantation, IHOP,and Home Town Buffet. On special occasions, they would go to Pinnacle Peak.

Bertha passed away in her sleep on April 13, 2010. Bertha had a long life made of a simple pleasures. She met all hardships that confronted her with calm common sense and dignity. She was a wonderful wife and mother as only her family could attest to. She will be forever missed and remembered by her sons and those who were fortunate enough to have known her.