Bertha Marks, 69

Bertha died Saturday, May 9, 2026 at her home in Vancouver, WA. Funeral services are 1 PM, Thursday, May 21, 2026 at The Lighthouse in Wagner. Burial is in the Greenwood Presbyterian Cemetery. Wake services are 7 PM, Wednesday at The Lighthouse.

Bertha C Marks was born alongside her twin and best friend Berta Montgomery on December 11, 1956 to Louis and Margaret Montgomery. As one of twelve siblings, Bertha prided herself on the size and strength of her family. She grew up on the Yankton Sioux Reservation where she met and married her future husband. They enjoyed many beautiful years together having raised Olivia, Carol and Tiffany; although her world had not become complete until she became a grandmother. Samantha, Stetson, Jack, Courtney, Brittney, Mattie, Joe, Raygen and Jason Jr. filled her life with undeniable joy. Bertha was known for her extravagant Christmas’s, all night card games with the kids and a deep dedication to all her family.

Through the years she had all of her sons’ in-law promise to return her daughters to her on Christmas Eve before she gave her blessing for the wedding. This was especially important because she adored spending time with her grandbabies or “Little Berthas.” God blessed her with “nine rotten grandbabies” and she insisted that they were all present in her home on Christmas Eve, her favorite holiday. Sitting in her recliner with a lit cigarette and gingerbread cookie, Bertha was happiest watching her grand babies open their gifts. She would smile widely, point her finger, and tell each one the plan she thought of for the gift, “you can watch that movie in the pajamas I got you.”

Through each Christmas, Bertha instilled in all of us the importance of family. That regardless of whatever conflict arose through time, family wasn’t only a gift and a blessing, but something sacred. Something that we all should cherish and pay respect to, to build our obligations around instead of in spite of.

As a young lady, Bertha attended boarding school in Flandreau, SD before going on to receive a Bachelor’s degree from the University of South Dakota. A major accomplishment for a young woman who grew up hearing her mother and grandma speak Dakotah as their first language in the house.

In 1976, her first daughter Olivia was born. Shortly after she met the love of her life, Titus Paul Marks, and began a journey of traveling the United States as they both worked with the Bureau of Indian Affairs while raising their two other daughters Carol and Tiffany. In her role as a mother, Bertha typically had a camera at her side, ready to capture memories. Anyone who walked into her spare bedroom in her home would see an archive of photo albums wrapped around the walls. Each album filled with moments in time of family gatherings. Bertha loved to have one of her children or grand babies pick an album up so she could explain that day, talk about each person, whether they were in heaven or still on earth.

These lessons about family, love, devotion, and obligation were lessons that Bertha taught by example. She lived them throughout her life. Her three children and nine grand babies are now building their own lives around these values. Bertha showed us all how to build and maintain our homes so that the next generation might learn the same.

After falling ill and moving to Washington state to live closer to her daughters, Bertha gave praise to the Lord that she had three daughters she could rely on. Even if she could no longer drive and meet her twin or other siblings at “the hill” or Fort Randall Casino for a slot tournament or bingo night, she considered herself blessed. She still had solitaire, her cooking shows, hymnals and Conway Twitty on YouTube, and her cellphone so that she could call her family and let them know that she loved them “always and forever, no matter what.”

Bertha looked at death as another step of life. She showed no signs of fear or foreboding but was rather blunt. This past Christmas she said it would be her last so she had all of her children and grand babies gather for one last large Christmas photo. In that photo Bertha is seated in the center with a green cardigan with an almost stoic sense of pride in her smile. She is saying in that memory what she has always said: gather with your family and love them unconditionally, and never forget you wouldn’t be here without me, darn it.