Funeral Services are under the direction of Buffington Funeral Home in Shiner, Texas and will be held on Wednesday, October 30, 2019 at 1:00 pm at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Yoakum, Texas with Reverend Alsen Wenzel officiating. Interment will follow at Shiner City Cemetery. A visitation and luncheon will be held from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm prior to the funeral. Visitation will be from 3:00 pm until 9:00 pm on Tuesday, October 29, 2019 at Buffington Funeral Home in Shiner.
Sylvia was born in Shiner, Texas and was the daughter of Louis J. and Edna (Kasper) Trojcak. After attending schools in the Shiner and Hallettsville area until the age of 9, she moved with her family to Nueces County. Sylvia graduated from Robstown High School and worked at General Telephone Co. in Robstown. Leon H. Bertram and Sylvia were married at St. John Lutheran Church in Bishop, Texas where they lived and raised their family. After the children were older, she attended Del Mar College in Corpus Christi and graduated as a Licensed Vocational Nurse and then worked for 20 years as a nurse at Robstown Riverside Hospital, for a local physician and for the Texas Department of Mental Health/Retardation in Kingsville, Texas. In 1988, she and Leon retired and moved to Kerrville, Texas where she was active in church work and was a key building committee member for Zion Lutheran church. Sylvia loved spending time with her family and was fondly named ‘Ging Ging” by her oldest granddaughter. She truly enjoyed caring and cooking for all her family. Although she never considered herself a great cook, there were many huge buffets that she prepared and carried to the fields as the family farmed for 30 years in Bishop. There were favorite family holidays and dinners together where Sylvia prepared the entire meal. A natural at gardening, she always had a beautiful bed of roses blooming and could grow those hard-to-grow plants. Sylvia loved polka music and was a great dancer. Many weekends were spent at community halls with family and friends. She enjoyed fishing and playing dominoes at their vacation home on Baffin Bay. Sylvia and Leon traveled to many places in the US and to Europe and Canada, particularly to Denmark to visit their foreign exchange student she considered a son.
Sylvia is survived by her brother Shirley A. Trojcak and his wife, Carole of Missouri City, Texas; two sons, Dwight Bertram and his wife, Linda of Pflugerville, Texas; John Bertram, of Shiner, Texas; daughter Amy Thornberry and her husband John, of Riviera, Texas; seven grandchildren, four great grandchildren; one sister-in-law Dolores Leifeste of New Braunfels, Texas; one brother-in-law Owen Miller of Southlake, Texas and several nieces and nephews. She is recently preceded in death by her husband Leon Bertram after 65 years of marriage.
Pallbearers for Mrs. Bertram will be; John Thornberry, Matthew Bertram, Ken Trojcak, Gus (Buba) Trojcak, Neal Miller, and Howard Miller. Honorary Pallbearers will be; Steve Miller, Cole Patchell and Billy Fedorko.
In memory of Sylvia Bertram, memorial contributions may be made to Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Yoakum, Texas
To join the family in celebrating Sylvia’s life, and to offer words of comfort, please go to: www.buffingtonfuneralhomeshiner.com
