Biography of Bertha E. Brown

I will begin by going back to the time when Dad married Angela the 18^th of March 1919.  Angela was 19 and Dad was 56.  They were married in Las Cruces, N.M. Due to the Mexican revolution of 1912 the exodus of the Mormon families from the Colonies in Mexico, my father and his wives and families became estranged and because of the polygamy laws in the United States he was not able to follow with them, subsequently the church granted the four wives a church divorce due to the circumstances.

Orson Pratt Brown became a legend in the Mormon Colonies in Chihuahua and because of his exceeding courage and will to follow the leaders of the church at the time of the exodus he remained in Ciudad Juarez – El Paso area in an effort to deal with the Mexican government to allow the safe return of the Saints to Mexico.  His families had suffered the loss of their homes that they had to leave behind, that there was no desire for them to return.  My father lost the greater part of his life – his families.  He now had no anchor to hold on to, he became bitter and inactive and it was during this period from 1912 – to 1919 that he struggled with his values.  He met Angela in Ciudad Juarez - a young girl going to school and full of hope and determination to excel in her life.  Dad was very charismatic and well liked by everyone.  He was very good looking and when he proposed to her – his age didn't matter she wanted her children to be a leader like him.

It was in Ciudad Juarez that four of her children were born: Silvestre Gustavo 12-17-19, Bertha 7-31-22, Pauly 1-29-24, and Aaron Saul 7-29-25.

Mother was happy with her family yet it was hard for her since Dad was mining to make a living and was gone for long periods.  When he would return he would pay the grocery bill to this grocery owner that extended him credit.  He loved his new family and once again his arms held his children.

In 1925 Dad was re-baptized into the Mormon Church by Brother Arwell Pierce and was confirmed by Bro. Kimball of Thatcher Ariz. In El Paso, Texas.  These brethren were strong members of the church and friends of Dad's early days.  They indeed were their brother's keeper.  His life changed and he took his family back to the Colonies where he had been such a faithful and devoted member.  He had come home!

Mary Angela was born June 15, 1927 in Colonia Dublan.  That same year Dad traveled with the Stake members to attend the Centennial celebration of Salt Lake City.  While there Pres. Ivins told him that Pres. Grant had instructed him to confer to him his former blessings and he laid his hands upon him and resealed back to his wives and children.  This was the potential blessing in his life.

Upon his return to the Colonies he had a dream when in he saw himself laboring among the Mexican people.  Next day the presiding bishop of Dublan called him to the chapel and set him apart as Bishop to labor among the Natives.  He served as a bishop for 15 years and was joined by Angela being baptized and becoming a Relief Society President.  He was able to secure the rightful status for the Mexican Mormons and their children were allowed to go to school with the American members.

It is at this time that Bertha flourished in the church as a young girl- being a great asset to the Mexican Branch.  Bertha gave her narration of her early years, which began under the guidance of her parents. She was five years older than me and I adored her!  Mother made sure to prepare her to be a homemaker.  She learned every craft available – she learned to sew and became a professional seamstress, she designed bridal dresses etc. and earned enough money to make a nice wardrobe, for her and Mother and of course her little sister.  She learned to play the guitar and sing and be the Mutual leader.

Mother loved Bertha and nicknamed her " La Marsellesa" which was the national anthem to France.  Mother would play the record over and over and knew how the French people would love and respect their hymn. She also made a song for her it goes:

De las muchachos de Dublan (from all the girls in Dublan)
No hay nadie que me empareje (There is none that can match me)
Ni Virginia, Ni Roquel (not Virginia or Rachel)
Menos esa Lupe, Vieja (much less that old Lupe)

Porque me ha dicho Cipriano (Cypriano has told me)
Que no quiere verme Flores en el pelo (He doesn't want me putting flowers on my hair)

Chulapona, Chulapona— (Beautiful girl – Beautiful girl)
Eso dicen cuando pasa me persona! (That is what they sing when my persona goes by)

The part of Cipriano talking about the flowers was because Lemuel Flores (flowers) a returned missionary was seeking Bertha's attention.  He was 22 she was 17.

Bertha was so church oriented that Dad wanted her to go on a mission.  He was afraid that she would marry a non-member. There was a young doctor in Nuevo Cases Grandes that would bring Mariachis to serenade her.  There were quite a few young men aspiring to be favorable to her.  While attending J.S.A. – Juarez Stake Academy- in Colonia Juarez she met Cipriano Rubio.  Mother would let her go to get ice cream and ride around only with me as chaperone.  I liked him – he would get me big bags of candies.  I was about 12 years old and very impressed.  Who knows if her fate would have been more favorable to her!

Bertha was excited about her mission.  She left joyful to enter a new facet in her life.  She was in her mission from 1943 – 45 (aprox).  She arrived to Mexico City with other girls from Colonia Dublan at the same time that Gustavo was ending his mission.  Interesting enough the mission President was Arwell L. Pierce the longtime friend of Dad who also baptized him and later stood in proxy for Dad in the Mesa Temple when we as a family were sealed in 1946.

Bertha served in Toluca, Pueblo and Cuautla.  It was in the Toluca area where a young man named Everardo Navas was baptized by the missionaries.  I should mention that most of the Anglo missionaries were from the Colonies and were bilingual.  The men were very sport oriented and had played basketball in the state of Chihuahua in competition.  Everardo (Nano) immediately made friends with the missionaries as he was a physical education professor and these young boys were up his line his strong exuberance was matched by helping the missionaries and needless to say, Bertha was very impressed by him.  She enjoyed her mission and made many friends and converted many members.  When Bertha returned to Dublan she corresponded with Nano and shortly thereafter become engaged.  Pauly had made plans to marry his girlfriend Lily Gonzalez and all four agreed to have a double ceremony.  Aron was released from his mission and Nano traveled by train to Cuidad Juarez then onto Dublan.  They had a reception in the cultural hall of the American branch and the whole place was full.  Nano met some of his former missionaries again.  Dad danced with the two brides and Mother was so happy.  I was Berthas' bridesmaid and she made her dress and all the bridesmaid dresses.  The next day they traveled by train to El Paso and by bus to Mesa, Arizona where they were married and sealed in the Mesa Temple.  Aunt Eliza my Dads' 4^th wife gave them a lovely reception at their home. [Anna Petrie Encke invited all her club friends and neighbors and provided the newly wed foursome with a lovely reception at her home. Anna's mother Eliza Skousen (Orson's fourth wife) was living with Anna and she helped with the reception. Eliza's other two daughters, Gwen, was in California, and Elizabeth, was in New York. so they did not attend.]

Dad was elated that Bertha had married a handsome Mormon man and he seemed relaxed for that had been a big worry.

Nano and Bertha returned to Mexico and Bertha soon took a job at a grand hotel where she made reservations and interpreted tourists in their needs.  She had a tremendous salary for being bilingual and she was such an attractive young lady.  Nano was with his physical education job.  Soon Bertha found out she was pregnant.  Their letters home were always about Orhito (Little Orson) for our dads' namesake.  When Bertha had to quit her job now in her 8^th month, Nano took her to Toluca to live with his parents – she felt like she was a burden to the family l especially when at dinnertime Nano's sister looked at her plate and said- you should eat a lot? As soon as Lucy was born Bertha started to teach sewing, crocheting and English.  I was working with Lamsa Airlines and came to Toluca to meet Lucy.  Bertha had taken an apartment and was having to wash Lucy's' diapers outside in a stone tub it was so cold!  In those days there were no disposable diapers.  Mother gave her some money to hire a girl to help and she worked hard with her lessons.

Dad died March 10^th 1946 just 3 months after the wedding.  It surely broke Bertha's heart not to be able to come to the funeral and held Nano responsible for not providing the way for her to come.

During the end of Sept. in 1946 a temple Arizona excursion was held and Aaron escorted several people from the area of his mission. Mesa was the closest temple to Mexico.  During this excursion people from Dublan came and Mother, Aron, Pauly and Mary were sealed to Dad in the Temple.  It was much later that Bertha went to El Paso to Mesa to be sealed, something she wanted so much!

Nano and Bertha were able to rent the living quarters that the elders and sister missionaries had and were not all being used.  That was the break Bertha needed. Nano was now working in Puebla and only came on week-ends-here she was safe as the chapel was always having services of different kinds and missionaries were always around.

Bertha established herself now as a private English teacher and provided a classroom where she taught classes in the morning and at night.  She had several doctors and lawyers as students.  She soon was able to buy a washer, a stove, bedroom furniture etc.

Some missionaries had told Bertha and me that Nano was escorting the queen of a certain event at the university where he taught.  I came to visit her and I took Bertha, Lucy and I on the bus to Puebla. When we arrived to the University the guard opened the door to his apartment and let us in.  We waited for a good while and meanwhile Bertha saw a couple of letters on the desk and she read them – she confirmed what she was so worried about.  When Nano came as usual he was so happy to see her he picking her up – as pregnant as she was, and twirled her around. They walked out hand in hand and I was furious with him but she really loved him and he loved her, and she didn't face him with the problem.  A daughter was born 11-27-48 and by now Nano was not coming often.

Living so far from her relatives it was hard to deal with the problem even though she had so many friends.  One German family sort of adopted her and helped her so much.  Finally the time came when Bertha spoke to the mission president and after a thorough search granted her a divorce from the temple (Correction: their temple divorce was not granted until 1956).  She sold everything, which she had bought during the years and left Toluca with her two little girls and the beds and clothes she had.  When she came to El Paso she hired a lawyer and got a divorce.  When Nano came home the house was empty and Bertha was gone.  It was a foolish thing that Nano did to not fight for his home and honor and neglect his priesthood. [Mary is incorrect about this. When Nano was served with the divorce papers he punched the attorney in the nose, Nano never did sign the divorce papers and continually contacted Bertha trying to reconcile their relationship, even after they had both remarried he wrote at least two or three times a year. Nano is currently serving on the Stake High Council of the Toluca Stake.]  We never heard from Nano. [Mary is incorrect. Nano wrote many times a year, he sent gifts and dolls for the girls. Bertha's second husband, Ronnie Ferrara, would destroy the gifts one way or another. Ronnie's favorite method was to hang the dolls that Nano sent to his daughters, from the basement rafters as targets for his .22 rifle shooting practice. The girls remember receiving from their father a three foot tall soldier doll in purple velvet and gold braid trimming. Ronnie took it away and destroyed it right in front of them, they were devastated] The children never met him until they were grown up and married. [Mary is incorrect. Nano called a number of times and since the girls could no longer speak Spanish, Bertha interpreted for them. When Lucy was 18 years old Nano sent her a ticket to fly to Toluca and she met the whole Navas family including her grandmother Lucia Molina and her grandfather Filiberto Navas Valdes.] He never tried to do something for them.

Pauly and Lily and I were living in El Paso and helped her get established.  The main problem was getting someone to watch the children.  I got her a job at a store and one week end she went to Juarez to bring a maid back. When she found one they got on the street car and she told her to sit opposite to her, when the inspector came and asked questions she got scared and told him she was with Bertha.  That was a wrong step and they punished her to not be able to come across.  Now she lost her job.  We watched the children and some lady from church – sister Devlin- had an optical co. and she hired Bertha and allowed her to live in the top apartment from the optical, well, this was a break she found a place for the girls at a Catholic preschool, she had a maid to watch them and she had a job.

I can't remember how long this took place nearly two years; we helped her to get her legal passport and the girls.  She changed the girls last name from Navas to Brown and was so bitter that she said that was the end of Navas. We need to remember that there was still a lot of discrimination and being Hispanic was not popular.  The girls spoke only Spanish and she struggled to teach them English.

Soon after, 1952, mother, Martha, and Gus helped buy a house.  We all were able to live in it.  Bertha had kept the junior beds for Nanos daughters, they slept in the back of the garage converted apartment and we let her have the Master Bedroom until I got married. This move had a good change in our lives, we found a nursery close to where Bertha worked and we both worked at bank's and picked up the girls after work.

In 1953 Sept. 12, I married Red Hayden and that same year in November Bertha married George Ferrara an army sergeant at Ft. Bliss. She married him and they moved to Michigan right away.  In 5-19-1955 her first son was born George, Jeffrey was born 1-4-59 and David 6-13-62. Bertha now had 2 girls and 3 boys.  Her move to Detroit was hard for her.  The winters were very harsh and she had to catch a bus to go to work, she worked to get a down payment on a house which when they moved into gave them more room.  The girls were now speaking English and Ronnie their step dad had forbidden them to speak Spanish.  They were now a complete family!  Ronnie's aunts were very nice to Bertha and she often invited them for dinner.  The girls [known as the Mexican maids by Ronnie's relatives] would help Bertha with the children and Ronnie having many faults was still supporting his family and being a good parent.

Bertha was periodically active in activities in the church and the community, as her health and mental condition would allow.  When Gov. Romney was running for office Lucy campaigned for him (considering his roots were from the Mormon colonies in Mexico and he was the Stake President in the Livonia Stake, Michigan).  There was a picture of Romney holding David in the Detroit Free Press.

Mother and I, Eddie and Candy came to Detroit and visited for a week.  We had a wonderful time going to all the tourist places.  The flowers in her house were beautiful and all in all things were o.k.

Then Ronnie went overseas – Bertha was relieved – he was starting fights and knocking her around.  She almost lost David during her pregnancy.

I don't recall how long he was gone but when he returned he secretly brought back a German girl and her daughter and placed them with some relative.

Ronnie came home and started setting the way to drive Bertha to a divorce.  He was mean and violent.  Her mental attitude was so bad she couldn't go anymore.  She granted him a divorce and the same day he married his mistress from over seas.

The young family blamed Bertha for the distress and when Aunt Helen found out what Ronnie had planned she told Bertha and she went to the nearby town and got a copy of the wedding certificate, which she showed, to the boys to show them what he had done.

By this time Lucy was going to college.  Aron had been able to get her a scholarship from the Ritzenthaler's and Lucy had other scholarships from B.Y.U. and the American Autobody Engineers of America, together they paid all her expenses.  Bertha sold the house and moved to El Paso.  She was able to buy a nice house and they started a new home. 

Bertha started a new life in Texas.  She joined some Greek and Turkey groups that were sponsored by the service as hostess family in an effort to teach foreigners about the American way.  She stayed active in church.  She was not able to control the boy's attitudes.  Jeffery went on a mission and she really was proud of him.

Bertha was a fighter – she didn't let things bring her down.  Her inspiration was to have a nice house and would work from paycheck to paycheck improving things in the house.  She invited her guests to the house and they all would bring a casserole or dessert- some Greeks would barbeque a goat the way they fixed them at home.  She would invite them to some of the senior programs and they would dance in a circle holding hands and the seniors loved it.

Bertha starting breaking down with the (like mumps) swelling on the sides of her face and neck and her breathing was shallow yet she worked until her last week dragging around an oxygen tank and all the time we knew she would get out of the hospital.  Later we found that she was born with a congenital opening in her heart and she slipped away on Dec. 16, 1979.

I wish life had been kinder with her she died at 57 when she was still so young.  I miss her so much!

[For at least several months before Bertha's death, she and Mary were not on speaking terms. Bertha had helped Mary get a job at the senior center where she worked, and the rivalry and feuding between them was ongoing for years. Bertha drove and admitted herself to the hospital, dragging her oxygen tank behind her. Mary did not visit Bertha in the hospital, Pauly and Lily were her only visitors. No one contacted Bertha's children in Utah and California when their mother was hospitalized. After Bertha passed away Mary did not help with the funeral arrangements, Mary did not assist with the settlement of the estate, Mary made herself scarce during this time. Bertha did not leave anything in her will for Mary. Mary does not communicate with Bertha's children except to say hello at Brown Family Reunions, or to occasionally reciprocate a Christmas card. Everardo, his second wife Norma, his sister Eugenia and her husband Carlos, attended Bertha's funeral, tended her grandchildren, and provided meals for the family while they applied Bertha's will and settled her business.  Before her passing Bertha and Nano reconciled their friendship and met in Mexico for a good visit. After her death Nano petitioned the Church to reinstate his marriage sealing to Bertha and this was approved effective on July 28, 1992.]

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Sources:

PAF - Archer Files = Orson Pratt Brown + Angela Gabaldon > Bertha E. Brown Navas Ferrara

Written by Mary Angela Brown Hayden Green

Photos included by Lucy Brown Archer

Copyright 2002 www.OrsonPrattBrown.org