Berta’s ancestors had emigrated from Germany in Catherine the Great’s time. She was raised in a small town where her grandfather was a landowner. But in 1941, world history intervened in their lives during WW ll when Germans in Russia were uprooted and ordered by the occupying German authorities to travel as refugees to Germany. The journey with wagons and horses took till 1945. She enjoyed walking during her life, and often said she walked halfway across Europe, and it was true.
In January 1953, Berta immigrated to Canada, hoping her family would someday follow. Apart from having two cousins already living in Winnipeg, this did not happen, and she found her own way in Canadian life. Berta learned English in night school, did domestic work and worked in hospitals in Winnipeg and Vancouver.
Then through mutual friends Berta met Norman Krueger in July 1955. Norm had grown up in Manitoba and moved to Victoria in his twenties. Their romance bloomed and by New Years Eve they were engaged and got married in June 1956.
Soon their family bloomed too. Berta and Norm had four beloved children and her life as a mother was full, happy, and busy. Once the children were older, Berta worked in motels as a maid and desk clerk and at Woodward’s Department Store where she started as a cleaner and finished her career as manager of the China Department.
Berta’s achievements and blessings of her life in Canada were justifiably a place of pride and cause for ongoing gratitude for a little girl whose homelife and education were disrupted by war, who as a young adult made her way to a new and wonderful land. She made very good friends everywhere she went and always found ways to help others. Berta was a blessing and inspiration to many.
In her early years, Berta’s Christian faith, inspired by her maternal grandmother, found expression through the Lutheran Church, and later in life, she faithfully attended Glad Tidings Pentecostal Church in Victoria.
Berta was predeceased by her husband in 2010, and is survived by her children, Ray (Lori), Wendy, Sharon (Dave), and Laura, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, all in Canada, and cousins, nieces and nephews in Germany. A private service will be held August 13, 2020. Berta will be laid to rest next to her dear Norman in Royal Oak Burial Park.
The service can be viewed live on Thursday August 13th at 10:00am by copying and pasting the following link into your web browser. https://funeraweb.tv/en/diffusions/16719
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