Bertha Stucky Reimer

is honored with a Brick from Jim Farley.

(1916-1978)

A well-known poem begins and ends with this line: "I had a mother who read to me." I, too, had a mother who read to me, and a mother who listened to me read to her, who played classical music on the record player for me when I went to take a nap, who supported me in all my decisions, who prayed for and with me, who loved and cherished me.

Bertha Stucky was born near McPherson, Kansas, on May 23, 1916, to Gideon and Emilie Goering Stucky. The fourth of nine children (her six sisters - Linda, Sara, Mary, Elizabeth, Margaret, Martha - and two brothers - Paul and Willard), she was affectionately called "Bird" by her brother Paul. She grew up on a farm in the shadow of this beloved Paul, climbing trees, wading in the creek, bringing the cows home with him. Bertha attended Victory Grade School and then roomed in McPherson with sisters so that she could attend McPherson High School.

Following her high school graduation, she lived in McPherson and Wichita, holding such jobs as a telephone operator, an office worker for National Co-op Refinery Association during World War II, and a dental assistant. She was president of the McPherson chapter of a national professional business women's association.

On September 21, 1947, Bertha married Harry Reimer at the home of her parents. The couple lived in Inman, Kansas, throughout their married life. They had three children, Jay, Sara Reimer Farley, and Debra Reimer Burgess. She took a quiet pride in maintaining her home, in running errands to Hutchinson and McPherson for parts and paint for her husband's body shop, in gardening, and in sewing clothes for her children. Bertha supplemented the family's income by taking in ironing and by sewing for others.

After her children were well along in school and she had survived a bout with breast cancer, she took a job as secretary at Inman High School, a post she held for nine years. During that time, she also served as secretary for the local school board.

My mother was a great believer in object lessons. She used them in the classes she taught in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. One of her favorites, and one of mine, was a lesson she taught using daisies, cut from her flower garden, and a jar of colored water. She would cut a few daisies and put them in the jar of colored water. Slowly the flowers would absorb the color until their petals clearly showed the effects of their food source. This, she said, represented how what we allowed to nourish ourselves with would eventually show through to those around us. Her most powerful object lesson, which I now recognize and appreciate dearly, was her own life.

Mom lived her faith. She gave herself willing every day, joyfully, without counting the cost. She willingly said "Here I am" when teachers were needed for Bible School, when workers were needed for disaster relief, when the women's organization needed leaders, when she saw a need for a church library, when a friend was ill or in sorrow. Within the Inman Mennonite Church she held many posts, including Junior Sunday School Superintendent and president of Women's Fellowship. She was an excellent and well-organized leader. She corresponded often with missionaries from around the world, found housing for them when they returned to Kansas on furlough and made them welcome. What she did was done without fanfare, without a request for repayment. She enjoyed an inner peace that was evident to all who knew her.

Bertha Stucky Reimer preserved magic (the tooth fairy replacing the tooth on a window sill with a dime) and family (her instructions on how to make a quilt coming in her mother's library the year my quilt-making grandmother died). She sustained us not only with the food she prepared, but more importantly with the idea that we could make a difference and the belief that we would.

I have a mother who believes in me, who loves me, who watches over me, and who prays for me.

Submitted by Jim Farley; written by Sara Reimer Farley

September 11, 1998