Obituary of Bertha Millhouse

Millhouse, Bertha Elizabeth went home to be with her Lord and Saviour November 22, 2008. He called her name and welcomed her home into His arms. She is survived by her cousins Ruth Woodworth, Jack and Sarah Millhouse of North Battleford and their son Larry of Cut Knife, Jean Gray of Lashburn and many other cousins as well as special friends Lorne and Carrie Scaife of Mervin. She was predeceased in 2002 by her sister Mae, her brother John in August 2007 and her parent's John and Eliza Millhouse. A time of celebration of Bertha's life was held November 28, 2008 at the Paynton Community Hall at 1:00 P.M. Alberta time, Saskatchewan time 2:00 P.M. Interment was in the Paynton Cemetery. Pastor David Walker was the Officiant for the service. Lorna Walker played the piano and a special number was sung by Pastor David and Lorna Walker "The Masters Bouquet." Eulogy and special song "Where the Roses Never Fade" was done by Carrie Scaife. Congregational songs were "Amazing Grace", "How Great Thou Art" and "Beyond The Sunset". At the interment the song sung was "In The Sweet By and By". EULOGY Bertha Elizabeth Millhouse was born January 1st, 1919. It was an extremely cold day just like our typical Saskatchewan winters . . . her father had to go and fetch the midwife with the horses and sleigh. She was born at home on her grandparent's- Charles and Sophie Millhouse's farm which was located 7 miles south and 1 mile east of Paynton. SE-36-45-21 W3. Dr. Howell was the Doctor and Mrs. John Topp was the midwife. She had an older brother John who was born on October 26, 1917and her youngest sister Effie Mae was born May 13th, 1922. All three children were born on their Grandparent's family farm. Later on her parents John and Eliza had their own farm which was located 3 ½ miles northeast of Paynton..it was from there that they attended school in Paynton. When Bertha finished grade 8 , it was a matter of working out of the home for different people in the community as a hired girl on other people's farms. She seemed to enjoy doing that and I heard lots of stories about the children she looked after and some of the ways they behaved, but we will not discuss names and places she worked at, we do not want to bring up those memories as I am sure the children she helped to raise are all perfect adults today!! She worked for people around Paynton and Maidstone and even up to Lloydminster. My husband and I got to meet John, Bertha and Mae in 1988. We moved up to this part of the country in March 1988. My husband was transferred here by Sask Energy. We heard that there was a little Pentecostal group of people meeting at the Seniors Centre in Paynton and so we checked it out. That is when we met John, Bertha and Mae and established a friendship from that time on. I recall when we first met them it was a very weak handshake and from then over time and time spent together it moved to warm hugs and kisses on the cheek. Bertha and Mae loved their cats and John loved both cats and dogs. Bertha and Mae always seemed to have a lot of them. Even the stray ones would know that if they came to their house they would be looked after. My husband and I have known Bertha for only 20 years of her life..sadly only the last 20 years. However we have made a lot of memories in that time and enjoyed many meals together either at our place at Maidstone, Spruce Lake and then when we moved to Mervin. There were also many meals at their homes too and of course out and about...North Battleford, The Truck Stop and Maidstone, St. Walburg, Turtleford, Mervin, Edam, Lloydminster and even a picnic at Bresayler...Many Birthday parties and other occasions Christmas, New Years and what ever else there was to celebrate. Those were always special times. We didn't just share physical food but also spiritual food as well. Many Bible studies and prayer times that were so awesome and sometimes they would last a long time - Bertha, John and Mae never minded. They really enjoyed the fellowship time together and the prayer times were so special and sincere..their hearts were so pure before our father in heaven. John, Bertha and Mae asked Jesus into their hearts when they were young. Their parents have a long history with the Pentecostal Church and the Pastor would come out from Cut Knife and have meetings and they would go down there. They would even go to Little Pine and attend Special Meetings down there as well. My husband and I also had an opportunity to attend special meetings there with them and got to meet some of their friends from both Little Pine and Poundmaker Reserves. It is so amazing that when a person goes on to Heaven then you start reflections of your times together. I never realized until I started the reflections in my mind of how many memories we had made. One of the highlights was when we were able to help John, Bertha and Mae make steps towards having a church of their own in Paynton. We all pulled together to make the dream come true. They had meetings for so many years in the Seniors Complex. We had many workbees and lunches were packed as we all worked together many long hours to renovate it...to make it a really nice place to worship - their own Pentecostal Church. Even John was under the floor of the building with my husband digging out and putting in heating pipes. The girls and I did what we could do by making lunches and keeping the men fed and worked on the kitchen and whatever we could do. Then of course even buying the flowers etc. to decorate the inside of the building. The sad day for them was when the church was closed. John went to the home just after that. Then it was almost a year later that Bertha joined him there. Bertha, Mae and John were very close and Bertha seemed to be the one to look after John and Mae..so it seemed only fitting she was the last one to go to Heaven. Their faith in God never wavered and we even had some really special prayer times together in the nursing home. We would join hands and pray, each one taking turns and then hug and say good bye till we would meet again. I thank God for the opportunities that Bertha and I could continue on doing many things together until the last as well. We continued on with shopping times, meals out and special meetings to attend and prayer times together. We did this until Bertha fell and broke her hip..then everything changed. The night John passed away..Bertha had gone in to call him for supper and he told her he was not coming for supper he was going home to be with Jesus, because Jesus was calling him home. That is exactly what happened when she came to check on him after supper he had gone home to be with his Saviour and Lord! Bertha, the day she went home...she had a visit with her cousin Jack in the afternoon and knew him well. The staff told me there was no warning that Bertha was leaving..She just went to sleep and is now safe in the arms of Jesus. Also a blessed reunion with her parents and Mae and John. Also she is finally free of pain, from the earthly body that God gave her to live in on this earth. Her first desire was for her relationship with her saviour and getting to know Him more and have more of Him in her life then second was for everyone she knew and loved to meet her there in heaven as well. Do you know that this was the first time I met people who when they would go into prayer would use their phone book and go through the Paynton Names and pray for each and everyone. They really earnestly desired for their neighbors and friends to accept Christ as their Saviour as well!! Pallbearers were Lorne Scaife, Jack Millhouse, Larry Millhouse, Keith Weston, Lloyd Holmes, Lorne Ferguson, John Tobin, Jack Marynowski and Alan Brown. CARD OF THANKS Thank-you to the Pine Island Lodge for their compassionate care of Bertha while she resided there. Thank-you to McCaw Funeral Home in Lloydminster for so much help and compassion in preparing a special celebration of life for Bertha as well as to Pastor Dave and Lorna Walker for their compassionate care during this time of Bertha's passing and the funeral service and special number. Also a Thank-you to all the Pallbearers for their assistance and willingness to help as well as the Paynton Catering group for the wonderful lunch. Also to the people who helped to make sure everything was ready in the hall for us from setting up chairs and what ever else behind the scenes you did. It was really appreciated!! Perhaps you sent a lovely card, or sat upon a chair. Perhaps you sent us beautiful flowers, if so we saw them there. Perhaps you spoke the kindest words that any friend could say. Perhaps you were not there at all, just thought of us that day. What ever you did to console our hearts We thank-you so much, whatever your part! Donations can be sent to the Edam Gospel Church, Edam, Saskatchewan or to the Gideons. Donations in memory of Bertha may be made to the Gideons or to the Full Gospel Church in Edam.