Richmond--Bertha Roth Alvey, 94, Died Aug. 2, 1983 at Sunshine Terrace. She was Born Oct. 27, 1888 in Murray, Utah, to Frederick and Mary Walli Roth. She Married William L. Alvey Nov. 17, 1908 in St. Anthony, Idaho. He died Feb. 27, 1956.
She was a member of the LDS Church, Richmond 4th Ward, serving in the Relief Society.
She is survived by three sons, Delbert Alvey, Lewiston; Fred Alvey, Richmond; Gale Alvey, Richmond; seven daughters, Mrs. Lewis (Eve) Donhost, Tempe, Ariz.; Mrs. Marvin (Bernice) Wayrynen, Horseshoe Bend, Idaho; Mrs Denzel (Edna) Balls, Hyde Park; Mrs Harvey (Geraldine) Hansen, Smithfield; Mrs. Joseph (Elaine) Rodgers, Tacoma , Wash.; Mrs. James (June) Hanson, Salt Lake City; Mrs. Dee (Arlene) Butterfield, Murray; 36 grandchildren, 63 great-grandchildren, and 19 great-great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held Friday at 1p.m. in the Richmond Stake Center, With Bishop Derwin Merrill conducting. Friends may call at Hall Mortuary Thursday, 7-9p.m., and at the stake center one hour before the services. Burial will be in the Richmond Cemetery.

This is my Great-grandmother.
Grandma Alvey, as we all called her, was born in 1888 to Frederick Roth and Maria Wahli Roth, who had immigrated to the USA from Bern, Switzerland just 5 years prior. She was a triplet, born with two brothers; one who died shortly after birth, and one who only lived a year. She must have grown up speaking some German, because her daughter Geri (My Grandmother) told us a story about how she fell once and hit her head on a rock hard enough to lose consciousness. When she came to, she would only speak in German. She recovered, and never spoke the language again.
She married William Levert Alvey in 1908, in Rexburg, Idaho. They Lived in Idaho, where the first five of their eleven children were born. They moved to Richmond, Utah and settled on what would be referred to as the family farm. Grandma Alvey lived there until the last year of her life. Grandma started to lose her sight in the 1960's and was legally blind by the early 1970's. That didn't slow her down. The local paper published a story about her at the time of her 85th birthday. She kept a kitchen garden for vegetables, a rock garden, mowed her own grass, and made the noon meal, or as she said "dinner", for her grown sons who worked the fields. Before losing her sight, Grandma Alvey was a voracious reader. When my Aunt was a child of about 10 or 11, she asked "Grandma, how do you know so much?" Grandma Alvey's reply was "Because I read." She told my Aunt that if a person keeps reading, they keep learning. This was from a person with an 8th grade education. For Christmas 1978, with the help of my Grandma Geri, she made my sister and me crazy patchwork quilts. The patches were from wool skirts, jackets, and coats that she had collected from various family members over the years. She cut them into irregular pieces, and Grandma Geri would tell her what color a piece was. She chose where each piece would go, and Grandma Geri stitched it together. Those quilts are cherished heirlooms. When I talk about Grandma Alvey to people, I always say "I want to be Her when I grow up!"
Grandma Alvey was predeceased by her husband and her oldest daughter, Mary Beatrice "Bea" Alvey Christofferson.