Ingrid Reschke Bertram's Obituary
Born in Gross Trakehnen, (a town in East Prussia) Germany, to Otto and Natalia (Werner) Reschke on November 12, 1938. Trakehnen was known for raising horses for the Prussian Army Calvary.
Ingrid was one of six children who grew up in a rural settlement farm setting and went to school—played a musical instrument at a Baptist Church when she was around 14 years old.
The Reschke family fled World War II from Munich, Germany, to the United States in 1950 due to the "Red Army/ Russian Front advancing through the region. During that time, the family was "exposed to the horrors of the war," as she put it.
The Reschke family came to the United States under the US Refugee Relief Act and The Lutheran Refugee Service in Missouri. Because of World War II, the family was separated for 4 years and reunited in Minot, ND, in 1954.
With new hope and vision, Mom began employment with Bank of America as a Key Punch Operator, worked up to Delinquent Account Analyst, and retired as a bank Officer. She was the first of her siblings to earn a 2-year college degree while working full-time. She became a US citizen in November 1963.
In 1962, she married her first husband, L.L. Herbert, and after a short marriage, she became a single mother of two children, Deborah and Kenneth. She worked diligently to purchase her home in the Sunset District of San Francisco, CA.
In 1972, she remarried a wonderfully brilliant man, Jack Renard Bertram. He was a professional musician, physicist, taxicab driver, and senior software engineer for Lockheed Martin. He brought so much to the family: a love of the outdoors and cultural awareness. He was an amateur chef, went skin-diving on a camping trip once, and brought fresh abalone to the camping table. His influence allowed us to expand ourselves culturally in so many ways. "J.R." Bertram passed away in 2012.
Ingrid loved gardening, the outdoors, and camping, was an avid environmental recycler, and was health-conscious. She traveled with family to Germany many times, made photo albums, labeled each picture, and included maps and notes, a very organized person who loved to tell a story. When the apple tree in the yard was producing apples, she would spend days making applesauce, and the aroma is one I will never forget. She was an amateur seamstress in her spare time and sewed over a dozen outfits/costumes for her belly dancing class. She had a great fashion sense and was often mistaken for a famous actress.
On Sunday mornings, she would play German waltz music during brunch time to keep our German heritage going.
Ingrid Reschke Bertram passed away on Sunday, January 12, 2025, at 7:39 PM Eastern time in Sarasota, Florida. She was surrounded by her son, Ken, and her daughter-in-law, Becky. She was 86.
She is survived by her daughter, Deborah Geniene Bertram, 62; a son, Kenneth Brian Bertram, 61; and one brother, Manfred Reschke, 89.
Funeral services will be held on Friday, January 24, 2025, at Skylawn Memorial Park in San Mateo, California.
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