Bertha Lee Hefner

BERTHA LEE HEFNER Funeral services for longtime Cortez resident Bertha Lee Hefner will be held at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, May 1 at the Cortez Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Interment will follow at Goodman Point Cemetery. Visitation has been scheduled for Tuesday beginning at noon at the church. Bertha was born the daughter of Edward Montville and Armour May (Thornton) Hipp. She passed away on Saturday, April 21, 2012 at Vista Grande Inn at the age of 86. Bertha married Robert Charles "Charlie" Hefner in Yuma, Arizona on September 15, 1944. Bertha and Charlie moved to Goodman Point in 1946. They returned to Holtville, Calif. where Bertha was a certified nurse for Dr. Spirtos. Bertha and Charlie retired in 1988 and returned to Cortez. Never to ignore her calling to help people, Bertha went to work for Dr. Donesky and Dr. Parmley in Cortez. They enjoyed 67 years of marriage before Charlie's death in 2011. Bertha was an active member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. She loved to decorate her home with her oil and water color paintings. Bertha also enjoyed gardening and working in her yard and she loved hummingbirds. Surviving Bertha are her grandchildren, Shawn R. Harder of Napa, Calif., and Scott Harder of Cortez; and her great grandchildren, Savanah Shy Harder of Campo, Calif., and Kegan Harder of Napa, Calif. Bertha was preceded in death by her parents, Edward and Armour Hipp; her husband, Charlie Hefner; her children, Phyllis Lee Harder, Roberta Faye Hefner, and Robert C. Hefner Jr.; and her siblings, Elvin Hipp and Lucille Cookson Hipp.