Bertha Loretta Atkinson

Funeral Services for Bertha L. Atkinson will be conducted from the Holdrege Memorial Homes Chapel in Holdrege, Nebraska on Monday, February 15, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. with Reverend Jean Clayton, officiating. Interment will be held at the Mt. Hope Cemetery in Almena, Kansas at 3:00 p.m.

Bertha Loretta Atkinson, 102 years of age, of Holdrege, passed away on Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at the Phelps Memorial Health Center in Holdrege. Bertha was born on the family farm near Orleans in Harlan County, Nebraska on October 23, 1907 to Chancey and Minnie I. Hopkins. Her early life was spent in the Orleans and Stamford area in Harlan County. She was baptized into the Christian faith in Stamford at an early age. She attended Rural School Dist. #30 and Stamford High School. A highlight of her early life was a wagon trip to Yellowstone National Park that her parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts with their children, made in 1913 when Bertha was just five years of age. The trip took three months.

On April 25, 1928 she was united in marriage to Raymond E. Atkinson of Almena, Kansas and to this union four daughters were born on their farm on the Nebraska/Kansas state line in Furnas County, Nebraska. Bertha and her family moved to Holdrege in August 1948.

Bertha was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Holdrege, and the Fraternal Order of the Eagles Post #3132 of Holdrege for many years, where she served as president.
Besides her parents, Bertha was preceded in death by her husband, Ray in 1996; two daughters: Shirley Atkinson and Iris Delimont and her husband, LaVerne; one sister and a brother, who lived only a few hours at birth; two brothers: Kenny Hopkins and his wife, Beulah and Darrell Hopkins and his wife, Goldie; two sisters: Vera Willey and Allie Dankers.

She leaves to mourn her passing, her two daughters: Phyllis Wagner of Santa Clara, California and Lois Weber of Kearney, Nebraska; 9 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; one brother, Gail Hopkins and his wife, Cecila of Des Moines, Washington; two sisters: Elva Lillroth of Roseville, California and Erma Wheeler of Los Angeles, California; along with a host of other relatives and friends.

Visitation will be held on Sunday, February 14, 2010 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Holdrege Memorial Homes Chapel.

A memorial has been established in her memory and will be designated at a later date.

Expressions of caring and kindness can be sent to the family at www.nelsonbauerfh.com

The Nelson-Bauer Funeral Home in Holdrege is in charge of the arrangements.