Ruth Katheryn Bartholomew

November 11, 1918 – February 6, 2011

Kathie Bartholomew’s story began in the small town of La Junta, Colorado where she was born and raised. Her dad and mom owned and operated a cattle ranch. When mom was 11 years old, the depression hit and her family lost everything overnight. Her dad had just put all their livestock on the train for market and when he went to the bank to pay for the shipping, he got the devastating news that he didn’t have any money left so they lost their ranch and with very few sources of jobs, Mom was forced to take care of herself. More traumas came when their house caught fire and they lost all their personal belongings.

Mom had to become resourceful and creative so she sold whatever she could to help out the family. She hand-made crepe paper dolls that were dipped in wax and sold them for $10.00 each, sold magazines door to door, pots and pans (even to people who didn’t have stoves), the best fudge ever and many other things.

She finished high school early, at age fourteen, skipping 1 ½ years. She needed $200.00 to go to Medical school which she didn’t have, so she decided to hitchhike to Denver, on a potato truck to enroll in beauty school and opportunity school where she received her Cosmetology license at age 16.

Right after graduation, she started to work in a salon and saved every penny she earned. She paid $2.50 per month for a small room with a Murphy bed and lived on 5 cents a day. When she saved $4,000.00 she bought her own beauty shop. She would also wash windows as well as any type of odd job that she was able to do. She worked several hours a day for a meal by making sandwiches at night after school at the Dixie sandwich shop. She could have all the buttermilk she could drink and all the stale bakery goods she could eat for a nickel. She survived on this while she went to beauty and opportunity school. She took telegraphy, Morse code and lip reading to not only further her education, but to have something of interest that she could share with others. She also modeled and was photographed for magazines. She wouldn’t let any obstacle in her way. If someone told her she couldn’t do something, that’s all she had to hear and she would prove them wrong. She was determined not to fail and if she did, she picked herself up and tried something else. She was an incredible sales person and among other things, selling juicers and plumbing supplies.

She started to investigate real estate when she met a man by the name of Bus Bacon. Bus worked in a title company and guided her in the real estate market. She started buying one house at a time for a profit of $1,000.00. One day Bus called her at the beauty shop and said “there are 7 houses in bankruptcy, with nothing down, do you want them”? She jumped on that opportunity and made $7,000.00 when she sold them all within 2 weeks. She was too young and inexperienced to ask for more and she sent her money home to her struggling mother and sister.

She met her future husband and our dad at the Senate Lounge in Denver, Colorado, where they were both stood up by their dates. Dad was a pilot and a captain at the time in the Air Force; they instantly fell in love and married on March 15, 1946. They had a military wedding with her sister Carol as her maid of honor and dad’s platoon drew their sabers. They bought a guest ranch with 3 houses and a horse in Evergreen, Colorado and rented out the cabins for the summer. The horse got tangled in the fence and later died. They were so distraught that we sold the ranch. They moved back to Denver where Judythe and Debbie were born. She continued buying & selling Real Estate until they were given orders to move once again but this time to stay in Merced, California where Summer and Grant were born at Castle Air Force Base. In Merced they became real estate agents and purchased quite a few houses.

Fear didn’t hold her back from trying new things. She smoked up until the 50’s and when the surgeon general announced that they caused cancer, she quit her 3 pack a day habit. Dad had ulcers for 5 years. They started to bleed so mom did some research and found that juicing cabbage and vegetables would heal them so in order to get juicers wholesale, she had to buy 3. Dad got healed after 21 days, mom sold the juicers for a profit, and there she formed Kay’s Health Food Store which she operated for 23 years. She helped heal many people with her recommendations of changing the diet by avoiding white flour, white sugar and Crisco (Trans fats) and to eat real, whole foods, seeds, sprouts, herbs and nutrients.

Dad and mom joined the masons and were Queen and King for 5 years. She also joined the American Legion and is a member of the, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).

She had four beautiful children,. Grant, Summer Judythe, and Debbie. Judythe married Roy Babich and Debbie and her husband John Miller have three children, Tracey, Anthony and Elizabeth. She leaves 5 great grandchildren; Savannah, Lydia, Carter, Caden and Kinsley Rose.

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. at San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery in Santa Nella, California.

Arrangements are under the direction of Stratford Evans Merced Funeral Home.