Julia P. (Place) Bertsch

Julia Place Bertsch passed peacefully away at her home in West Seattle, Washington on Tuesday, September 15, 2015.  Julia was 94 and the cause of death was congestive heart failure. 

Julia was born in Erie, Pennsylvania on December 25, 1920, to Lyman Tripp Place and Maude Micheal Place.  The family moved to Oswego, NY during the depression where Julia graduated from Oswego High School in 1937.  Julia attended Wilkes College, but was compeleld to withdraw after two years to care for her ailing mother.  Julia married George F. Bertsch on December 28, 1941, days before George was inducted into the Army.  Their son, George F. Bertsch, Jr., was born on November 5, 1942, following her husband's deployment to India.  During World War II, she was proud to take on a management role in the billing department at Shell Oil in Manhattan, where she had to sign documents with her initials so clients would not know she was a woman.  After the war, a second child, Linda Marcia Bertsch, was born and in 1951 the family moved to West Hempstead, LI.  Julia was ahead of her time when she decided to return to college to obtain her teaching credentials.  She graduated from Hofstra College with a Kappa Delta Pi accolade, and successfully taught grades 1, 2 and 3 at Walnut Street School in Uniondale, NY for 20 years.  In 2001 George and Julia sold their home and moved to Concord, NH to live with daughter Linda.  Julia loved their house on Rum Hill, an she felt at thome at Wesley United Methodist Church actively participating in United Methodist Women.  Among her many travels, her most memorable trip was to the  Holy Land in 1992; Julia was passionate in her hope that there could be peace and justice in Palestine in her lifetime.  Julia was proud of her colonial heritage, maintaining a Lifetime membership to the Thomas Rodgers branch of The Mayflower Society.  In 2013 Julia and daughter Linda moved to Seattle to be closer to family.

Julia's death was preceeded by the death of her husband, her parents, her three sibling, Ellen Mead, Eva Place Clark, and Lyman T. Place, Jr., and her grandson James T.P. Billiingham.  Julia is survived by her two chilren, Linda and George, her daughter-in-law Sharon McGrayne Bertsch, and her five grandchildren, Ruthann Bertsch, MD, of Sacramento, CA, Frederick Bertsch of Belmont, CA, Kerry S. Billingham of Seattle, WA, Logan J. Billingham of Brooklyn, NY, and Christopher M. Billingham of Seattle, WA.

Julia's Cremains will rest with her husband's at the NH Veterans' Cemetery in Boscawen, NH.  A memorial service in Concord is planned in the Spring.  Remembrances to Family Promise of Greater Concord.