Written by Tanya Terry
Pamela Altheimer recently talked to the Courier about the 100th birthday of her mother Berthola Altheimer, on Wednesday, July 31 and the party prior to it.
Berthola Altheimer (known as Bert) has been a Flint resident for 80 years and lived on Carton Street in Flint for over 70 years!
Pamela Altheimer acts as her mother’s caregiver and said her and her mother enjoy watching “old shows” like “Living Single” and the Cosby’s.
“She helps me care for some stray kittens,” Pamela Altheimer added. “…She always asks me when I get up in the morning: ‘Did you feed the cats?’ I say: ‘Yes mom. They get fed before we eat’…She told me something the other day. She said when she lived in Arkansas, they had a cat, and it stayed in the house…These ones stay outside, and I’ve got a couple cat shelters out there.”
According to Pamela Altheimer, her mother gets happy when she talks about her own father and mom.
“She talks about how they used to do things with the kids,” she said. “She talks about how her father had built her a playhouse that looked just like the house they lived in. They did have a couple of horses…Her mom and her aunt had a little café’ down in Arkansas. They were really good cooks. Her dad had a barber shop.”
Pamela Altheimer said although her mother’s first two children died as babies (Jerome and Dale), life was good for Pamela Altheimer growing up in the home with Berthola Altheimer and her husband and Pamela’s father, V.O. Altheimer. Pamela’s had three siblings in the home. The surviving children’s names are Debra Altheimer Richardson, Pamela Altheimer and Anthony Altheimer.
“We did a lot of things together. We used to sleep in the house with the door open. You can’t do that anymore. Me and my mom – we used to go shopping a lot down at Sears & Roebuck when it was downtown. They had other stores like Lerner’s. I used to go down there and get dresses and stuff for school.”
Berthola Altheimer moved to Flint from Rison, Arkansas in 1944 during the Great Migration. She began working at General Motors – A.C. Sparkplug on May 14, 1946, and retired in 1979. She was married on June 11, 1949. She also has been a member of Metropolitan Baptist Church for over 50 years, where she served on the church’s Nurses Guild for many years.
Through the years, she worked tirelessly to keep the area safe and clean with her late husband (who died at home in 1995) and fellow neighbors in the Flint Community, including Max Brandon, Desirea Brandon, Paethon Massy, the Gray and Washington families and other Carton Street Block Club residents.
“She was a hard worker. She kept a clean house up. She always said: ‘Treat people the way you want to be treated.’ Her and dad used to let other family members come and stay here when they came here from the South looking for work and stuff. They were really good people.”
Pamela Altheimer envisioned a birthday party for her mother that would “jolt her memory and make her remember” with family members from both sides of the family.
“I had the vision it was in different shades of purple and white because lavender is one of mom’s favorite colors. My cousins said they would do all the flowers because that’s what they do for work.”
Bethola Altheimer’s relatives own the Calla Lily Assignment Event Design business and helped the family with coordination and planning of the party.
That celebration finally happened on July 27 at Genesys Conference & Banquet Center in Grand Blanc Twp.
“Mom was overwhelmed!”
According to Pamela Altheimer, her mother still lets her children “know she’s the boss.”
“She’ll tell you I’ve always worked for what I have. She didn’t do a whole lot of drinking or smoking. She wasn’t one to hang out all night long. She took care of herself. Her mother lived until she was 99. On her father’s side, someone lived to 103.”
Berthola Altheimer has six grandchildren: Shannon, Star, Chase, Anthony, Christopher and Nicolas. She also has eight great-grandchildren.
The Courier also extends a special thank you to Daria Ross, Berthola Altheimer’s niece, who helped provide additional information for this article and sent the Courier the photos.
