Obituary of Bertha Sawyer

Bertha Sophia Sawyer of Goshen, NY, formerly of Vermontville, NY, entered into rest on Wednesday, February 04, 2015 at The Valley View Center, Goshen, NY. She was 86. The daughter of the late Herbert Shene & Florence (Shene) Aubin, she was born on August 17, 1928 in Vermontville, NY. She married Howard L. Sawyer on April 21, 1952 in Plattsburgh and lived in Keeseville. For several years she and her husband owned and operated an IGA store in Keeseville. She was also the bookkeeper for her husband's Sawyer Machine and Welding business in Keeseville. For the first ten years of their marriage they spent many weekends at hot rod and stock car races. Her husband built the car and she raced them. She won several races throughout the northeast. Her hot rod was named the "Little Gem". In 1970 they moved to Vermontville and that is where she lived until 2011, when she went into the Valley View Nursing Center in Goshen. She enjoyed gardening, flower gardens, antique collecting and a love of birds with several birdhouses and feeders on the property. She drove a school bus for 15 years for the Saranac Lake Central School district, retiring in 1993. She was a past member of the Church of the Nazarene of Vermontville and Lake Placid and the Pilgrim Holiness Church of Bloomingdale. For many years, she played the piano and organ for the churches. She is survived by her son, Shawn and his wife Diane (Fleming) and grandchildren, Shawn and Erin of Walden. Her brothers, Malcom of Massachusetts; Claude and his wife Kay of Lake Clear; Almond "Pete" and wife Lorna of Oklahoma City, OK and Vermontville and Garry of Bloomingdale; her sisters, Elliody Bickford and Laurel Giddings of Vermontville. She was predeceased by her husband in 1973 and brothers, Carlton and Alton. Funeral services will be held in the spring in Vermontville.