Bertha Rogers

Bertha M. Rogers, 91, of Geneseo, formerly of Cambridge, died Saturday, October 26, 2013, at Good Samaritan Village, Geneseo. A funeral mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, October 31st, at St. John Vianney Catholic Church, Cambridge. Father John Burns will officiate. Burial will be at Rosedale Cemetery, Cambridge. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Cambridge Chapel of Stackhouse-Moore Funeral Services, where a parish rosary will be recited at 7:00 p.m. Memorials may be made to St. John Vianney Church, Cambridge, or the Building Fund of St. Malachy’s Catholic Church, Geneseo.

Bertha Marie Gelaude was born December 4, 1921 in Zuma Township, Rock Island County, Illinois, the daughter of Constant and Marie DeWitte Gelaude. She was educated in the Cambridge area and graduated from Kewanee High School in 1940. Her marriage to Robert D. Rogers took place on February 27, 1943 in Kewanee. He died August 3, 2003. Bertha was employed by the Henry County Farm Bureau from 1959 to 1962. She then worked in the office of Judge Robert Horberg and Circuit Clerk Dean Leander. Bertha was a Deputy Circuit Clerk at the Henry County Circuit Clerk’s office until retiring in 1984.

Her memberships include St. John Vianney Catholic Church, the Altar and Rosary Society, and the Henry County Historical Society. Following her retirement, Bertha was involved as a volunteer in many community and church projects over the years. She had been coordinator of the volunteers for the Henry County Historical Museum. She also had been very involved with the Cambridge Main Street project when it first began. Bertha enjoyed flower gardening, cooking, and sewing, but most of all spending time with her family and friends. Family was always first in her life. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother and will be dearly missed by her family and friends.

Those surviving are a daughter and son-in-law, Rose and Dan Harms, Bloomington, sons and daughters-in-law, Denzil and Lura Rogers, Plainfield, and Don and Marg Rogers, Bishop Hill, seven grandchildren, Brian (Jenny) Rogers, Stephanie (Eric) Berge, Matthew Rogers, Dr. Jennifer (Dr. Louis) Amorosa, Allison Harms, Rachel (Adonis) Fuller and Monica Rogers, three great grandchildren, Emily and Nathan Berge, and Carolina Amorosa, and a sister-in-law, Anna Gelaude. Her parents, her husband, an infant sister, two brothers, Henry and Morris Gelaude, and a sister-in-law, LaVonne Gelaude, preceded her in death.