Bertha Mae Austin Ward

Bertha Mae Ward, 83, of Evansville, passed away Sunday, July 17, 2011, at Deaconess Hospice Care Center. She was born September 10, 1927, in Pellville, KY, to Willis Austin and Dollie Suda Crowe. She was the eldest of their eleven children.

The Crowe family moved to Indiana in 1940 and for many years the family ran a grocery store on Grove Street and a Demolition and Lumber Yard on Kratzville Road. Bertha met her husband, Kenith Shelton Ward, while working in a factory making war supplies during WWII. The couple married August 24, 1946, and raised four children together. She was a long standing member of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses on Fairway Drive.

Bertha was preceded in death by her husband, Kenith Shelton Ward; son, Kenith Steven Ward; parents; brothers, James, Bobby and Charles Crowe; sister, Virgie Gibbs; sisters-in-law, Diane and Ruby Crowe; and brother-in-law, Red Gibbs

She is survived by daughters, Diana Jeanne Powers (Wendell), Shirley Elaine Elmendorf (David), and Karen Loretta Ward (Spencer); nine grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren; sisters, Hazel Suits (Tom), Goldie Luckett (Kem), and Sue Mayville (Buddy); brothers, Austin (Dorothy), Karl (Gwen) and Walter (Linda) Crowe; and sisters-in-law, Mildred and Dean Crowe.

Services will be 11:00 AM Thursday, July 21, 2011, at Alexander West Chapel, officiated by Ken Goans, with burial in Locust Hill Cemetery. Friends may visit Wednesday from 3:00 to 8:00 PM and Thursday from 9:00 AM until service time at the funeral home.