Bertha Baumer

A funeral service will be held on Monday, May 18 at 1 PM at St John’s Catholic Church in Wahpeton. The service will be followed by a gravesite gathering at Calvary Cemetery, followed by refreshments, bars, and cookies with family and friends at St John’s. Flowers and plants are welcome. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Bertha’s memory to your local food shelf or homeless shelter would be appreciated and encouraged.

Bertha Baumer, a longtime Wahpeton resident, passed away on Thursday, May 14th, at the age of 97. She resided most recently in Savage, Minnesota, at Rivers of Life Memory Care.

Bertha was born in Jud, in LaMoure County, North Dakota, on March 3, 1929, to her mother Emma Helfenstein and her father Johannes (John) Bossert. Her father’s family, including her grandpapents Johann and Katherine Bossert immigrated to North Dakota from Barrisania, Russia, near Odesa, on the Black Sea, in what is now part of Ukraine.

Bertha graduated from Jud High School and began working in a local creamery, where she soon lost her fingers on her left hand in an industrial accident that changed the course of her life. As a result of the injury, she was afforded the opportunity to go to college. She attended the North Dakota State School of Science in Wahpeton - now the North Dakota State College of Science - where she graduated in 1951 with a degree in Home Economics.

While attending NDSSS, she met and married a local farmer, Clifford Charles Baumer. They lived briefly in Casper, Wyoming, where Cliff worked in the oil fields for Chicago Bridge and Iron. In 1953, they returned to Wahpeton and purchased Cliff’s family farm from his parents. They farmed until the mid 60s when both of them took jobs at the newly opened Leach Retirement Home.

Bertha and Cliff had 3 children who kept Bertha busy as a parent volunteer at St John’s Catholic School, where their children attended, and also as a local Girl Scout leader for many years. She was also a longtime active member of the Legion and VFW Auxiliaries, where Cliff was an active chapter member from the end of WWII until his death in 1989.

Bertha worked for Min-Dak when the sugar beet plant opened in Wahpeton. When 3M opened its facility in Wahpeton in 1980, she took a manufacturing position and worked there until she retired in 1994. After retiring, she often traveled with her daughter and son-in-law, including in Europe.

She was an enthusiastic and faithfully engaged Democrat throughout her life, frequently volunteering in local Legislative campaigns in both North Dakota and Minnesota

She and her family were deeply appreciative of the care she received at Rivers of Life Memory Care.

Bertha was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Clifford, and 2 of her children, Mercedes Ann Baumer and her son, Clifford Steven Baumer, as well as a sister, Minnie, and a brother, Bennie. She is survived by her daughter, Roxanne Mindeman of Burnsville, MN, and 3 grandchildren, Kennedy Clifford Mindeman (son of Roxanne and David Mindeman of Kansas City, Kansas), John Clifford Baumer, and Jessica Marie Baumer (children of Clifford S Baumer and Sheryl Schmidt of Burnsville, MN). She is also survived by 4 great grandchildren, Klaira, Harper, and Henry, and their half-brother Austin, of Burnsville, MN.