Bertha Helen Saksa Kassing

Mom caught an early flight Sunday morning November 15, 2020. A first-class ride earned with hard work, faith, and the endurance of a champion. 99 years plus and forever the optimist, mom completed her journey here on earth. Heaven was waiting. Bertha Helen Saksa was born May 10, 1921, in the central Utah coal camp of Heiner. Her midwife mother handled the delivery for Bertha and her twin sister Margaret who arrived a few minutes later. The growing Saksa family essentially followed the coal mines, and in short order landed in northcentral Montana. One of ten children of immigrant parents from Europe, Bertha embraced life with all the exuberance of a spring day. She was proud of her growing up years near Tracy, Montana often recalling the humble life of all families in the neighborhood where big gardens, chicken coops, rabbit pens, and outhouses were the norm for the diverse settlement of Slavs, Czechs, Poles, Italians, Finns, and Austrians. She remembered living through the depression and when the coal mines closed and recalled how all the families were “poor together”. Her God-fearing family were regulars at the Catholic Church where nuns befriended Bertha, telling her “you would be a wonderful nun, you pray so nicely, you have such a beautiful spirit.” Her father approved the idea, but her mother disagreed. Convinced life as a nun was a good choice, she found herself at the train station with nuns ready for a new way of life. As the approaching train whistle blew her brother, Charlie came running to tell her not to go because mother was crying! In what must have been a difficult moment, she stepped away from the nuns, thinking of her mother, and not wanting to hurt her. Though she did not become a nun, she never lost what they had clearly seen in her. Bertha would eventually become a devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, where she continued with her strong testimony. Her first job was house cleaning with her twin sister for an attorney who had represented their parents getting citizenship. She found herself in the workplace world early but thrived no matter the task. She married Heber Nelson and they had four children. They divorced and she married Al Forest, and they had one child and that marriage was dissolved. Later in life she married Cecil Kassing. Undaunted by circumstance she carried on with endless energy as a mother and homemaker to keep food on the table, children in clothes, and a view on living that was positive and hopeful. Rides in the country were mom’s signature. Kids were piled in the car and she wheeled the big station wagon onto the highway. The windows filling up quickly with grazing cows, towering stands of pine trees, tractors lumbering in wheat fields, marshmallow clouds floating on crisp blue sky, and the coursing Missouri River following us forever. A drive to Neihart or Lincoln for lunch, or a journey to visit friends in Vaughn or Fairfield. Other times she motored us to Fort Benton for a picnic by the river, a stop in town to visit her brother, the Choteau County Sheriff, and then up the hill for a look at the “Old Shep Memorial.” Everyday life was filled with colorful characters, friends, relatives, and endless exciting outings and visits. The local butcher would cut and wrap pork chops, and a pot roast just as she wanted it; the Fuller Brush man would roll out brooms and dustpans that she would carefully pick from for the never ending housework; a trip to a farm meant the kids could pick a puppy from a big litter; a visit to a Hutterite Colony where she’d buy fresh eggs, a sack of potatoes, and thick, sweet cream in big glass jars, then a stop at the gas station where’d she get the attendant to fill up the fuel tank on credit until she got paid in a week or so. These sorts of scenes all played out like a Norman Rockwell painting framed with gratitude and plied with harsh realities and cold, gray winters, but she never wavered as the single mom in charge of the family. Single-handedly she filled up every day with the best she could find to create a happy home life. Each busy day and night ended with all children kneeling around her bed, arms folded, heads down listening to mom offer prayerful thanks for another day. She worked a variety of jobs including many retail stores, Eddy’s Bakery, office secretarial positions, restaurant hostess, and store clerk. Judges, police, and store managers in Great Falls were amazed by the courage she demonstrated when stopping thieves at the door of department stores where she did exemplary work as a shoplifting security employee. She sold Tupperware, Shaklee products and filled up her Gold Bond Stamp booklets so the family could get a set of silverware or towels. She not only kept an assortment of jobs herself, but always found jobs for the children. Mowing lawns, shoveling snow, babysitting, selling newspapers, working at the state fair, bowling alley, or baling hay for farmers are some of the jobs she arranged. The work ethic was balanced with a variety of sensible activities for the kids. Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, swimming lessons, music lessons, summer camp, picking wild chokecherries, baking homemade bread, trips to the K-9 Academy, tours of the local dairy, ice skating at Gibson Park, sports of all kinds and plenty of time in the church house. She created a community clean-up project involving youth dressed up as “litter bugs” while they picked up garbage in a program that was decades ahead of any official city plan. She never stopped learning whether it was painting, writing poems and stories, reading or figuring out a cell phone. She was a school volunteer and loved the smiles and joy from excited students each time she entered the classroom. She loved cooking hot meals for others, her friends, her children, and her faith to her very last breath. When Covid-19 put the clamps on visitation, Bertha pushed despair away and stayed strong as long as she could. She had a shoe box of photos of friends, family, children, and babies posted on the wall in her small room. That’s the imagery she wanted to start each day with and somehow stay connected to the outside world. It was fitting that she would spend most of her life in Montana. She loved the unmatchable beauty in all directions. She would point out the serenity of deer foraging in deep grass, rainbow trout leaping from a river, or a thundering herd of wild horses near Square Butte and even stop the vehicle so we could hear and see the elegance of a Western Meadowlark perched on a fence post in early morning song. Her real joy however came from the opportunity to intertwine in the lives of others and make a positive difference. Waiters, teachers, cooks, miners, truck drivers, missionaries, clerks, politicians, ranchers, fellow worshippers, bank tellers, policemen, and many others she counted as friends. There is no doubt the real treasure and tapestry of beautiful Montana is because of people like her. Her sweet goodbyes were always thoughtful and encouraging with the words, “Be good to each other.” Big family dinners were the soul of the Saksa family, so when word came down that dinner for twelve was heartily served in a high-end restaurant, we could only grin and imagine the scene. A table spread with wonderful food and the whole doggone Saksa family gathered around the dinner table in robust conversation, and laughter. Proud parents John and Mary looking around and conducting a roll call to themselves of each of their seated children. Ann, Mary, Rudy, John, Charlie, Joe, Dorothy, Margaret, and Sue. The last chair was empty until the door opened to the kitchen and everyone looked up. Bertha, just a bit late, sauntered to her seat greeted with a rousing round of applause, and smiles! Bertha is survived by her children, Heber (Annette) Nelson, Kathy Nelson, James (Austria) Nelson, and Michelle Chavis; eight grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; nine siblings; husband, Cecil Kassing; and daughter, Jennifer L. Nelson. Due to Covid-19 restrictions services are pending.