Ethelda Alma Bertram

To read the story of the Bertrams once again on my own 89th birthday, November 7, 2022...is a sense that both Sister in Christ...Thelda...and Brother in Christ, Bob, were blessed indeed to be signature people in a significant time. They influenced me and many, many others because they took time to listen...they took their offspring back to Germany...and I believe Bob was selected to address a German governmental group on matters both German and American. Indeed, he was blessed to be a kindly giant who with Thelda...served and loved Jesus Christ. Never, will I forget as a struggling student at Valparaiso University he took time and patience to talk with me. Later on as he welcomed me to the Crossings with Christ group which he had fathered with Brother Ed Schroder...I was adopted in without the MDiv journey...wow...they gave me a vote of confidence that our Lord indeed can use lay persons in His Mission to our wobbling earth planet. Amen. Dr. Albert E. Jabs

My sincerest condolences to the Bertram Family. Ethelda sounds like she was a wonderful woman. It's possible my dad Rev. William (Bill) Lubkeman (Lübkemann) knew Bob's father while attending Concordia in Ft. Wayne. i'm going to post what i wrote as an introduction to Ethleda's obit when i reposted it on Facebook.
This obituary has melted my heart. I started reading her obituary thinking oh this is an interesting woman and then i read she's from Ft. Wayne! Ethelda's & Bob's early lives are so reminiscent of our dad's. She had a German heritage, grew up in Ft. Wayne, spoke German, the street she grew up on crosses the street our dad grew up on, her Lutheran church "Zion" is just 1.6 miles from our dad's Lutheran church "Bethlehem", her husband Robert "Bob" attended my mom's Lutheran church "St Pauls" (which is also where our parents were married), Ethelda lived close to her church and walked there, our mom Joann lived close to her church and walked there and of course our dad also lived within walking distance of his church. Her grandfather built their house on Creighton Ave. and our grandfather built the Lubkeman house on South Anthony Blvd., Ethelda's husband to be "Bob" attended Concordia College (which was a Lutheran high school and prep school for the seminary) which our dad and mom also attended. I don't have a birth date for Bob but he must have been about the same age as Ethelda since they both graduated from their high schools in 1939. They were about 9 years older than our dad, so it's possible he knew them. What is more possible is that our dad knew Bob's father Martin Bertram because he taught German language and literature at Concordia! In 1941 Bob went to Concordia Seminary in St. Louis which is also where our dad went after his high school graduation. The Bertram family lived in a suburb of St. Louis when he was offered a teaching position at the Seminary in the early 1960s. Our family lived in St. Louis when my dad went back to the seminary to finish his divinity degree. In their later years the Bertrams visited Germany 3 times and our parents also visited Germany twice. Ethelda lived to be 100.5 yrs old, our grandmother Minnie lived to be 101.5 yrs old. Good German genes!
The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

+ Rest eternal grant her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine on her + Thanks be to God for Thelda!!!

The Bertrams, Bob and Ethelda "Thelda" will be remembered. They were blessed to make a difference...a Christ Centered difference...in my life and in the lives of countless others. In an initial meeting with Bob, and Thelda, in their St. Louis home about my coming into the Crossings Christ Centered Community...I explained to Bob...that a friend of mine, Dr. A. Russell Steinke, told me that his Professor Bob Bertram, in his exemplary teaching, ought to be remembered for the fact that he has a degree in psychatric studies in addition to his theology explorations and convictions...which made Dr. Bob very meaningful to Russ Steinke, myself and others. Yes, there really was a kind of Jesus mind at work who I recall even recognized my words and gave them significance...Bob and Thelda...were a formidable duo of Christ caring people who were blessed to make a difference locally, globally, and yet, would stop to share, care and lift me and others up with significant Christ centered beginnings and endings. Hallelujah, once again and forevermore with our Father, God, HIs Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.