Shirley Bertin, age 88, of Forsyth

“Individuality is freedom lived.” -John Dos Passos

Shirley Faye Bertin, 88, died Sept. 5, 2025 at Rosebud Health Care Center, where she had lived for the past three years. While there, she kept the staff busy by correcting their grammar and attempting to teach people the difference between “that” and “which.” She was a teacher and fiercely proud mother and grandmother until the end.

Shirley was born March 7, 1937 to Jenny (Lucile) and Herbert Hahn in Mapleton, Iowa. The youngest of 9 siblings, she never backed down, whether it was to defend her opinion or to wrestle with her brothers.When her older brother Francis was forbidden from fighting with the boys at school, he solved the problem by telling them that his little sister would beat them up. She fought and won just once – and never had to again, because those boys were SCARED!

Shirley loved to share memories of her mother and proudly displayed a poem about planting pansies with her. She herself had a beautiful, meticulously kept flower garden. She lost her mother to cancer at the age of 13, but continued to live on the family farm throughout World War II. Her four older sisters took on the job of mothering her. She saw two of her brothers (Norman and Johnny) fight in the war, and return home safely.

After she graduated from high school, she attended the University of Iowa. She loved to tell the tale of the hapless university teacher who accused her of plagiarism because her paper was so professionally done. To make the story even funnier,  he apparently pronounced it “PEE-garism.” Needless to say, Shirley never plagiarized in her life.

While at university, she met her future husband of 22 years, James L. Bertin. The pair married in 1958 and went on to have four children in quick succession: Julia, Rebecca, Tanya and James (Jim/Jimmy).

Shirley continued to work and attend college throughout their marriage, balancing caring for four young children with her classes and teaching work. She was fiercely protective of her brood. At one point, the family lived across the street from a large local park in Des Moines. The girls were all over at the park, playing with their dog and 13 puppies, when a stranger approached them. Shirley, who was in the yard digging weeds with her “bear knife” (she brought it camping so she could ward off bears) took off running toward the park – knife in hand, eyes wide and nostrils flaring. It’s lucky for the stranger that he got out of there before she arrived – or Shirley’s life might have taken a very different turn! Protecting her children was one of her primary drives as a mother.

That protection applied to their education, as well. When the children were ages 11-15, Shirley and her husband challenged the Des Moines school district, claiming the schools were not doing enough to educate their children. They pulled all four out of school to teach them at home until they were satisfied the problem was being addressed.

A child of Depression-era parents, Shirley had an amazing work ethic, and expected the same in others. She could not tolerate waste, laziness, incompetence, bigotry and/or bad grammar. Shirley was a proficient French horn player, played the piano and made sure all four children learned to play the piano as well.

While caring for her four young children, she earned a Master’s degree, also in English. The focus of her Master’s thesis was American novelist John Dos Passos.

Shirley continued to work throughout their marriage.  A lifelong teacher and writer, she believed passionately that every student, no matter their background, deserved a good education. She spent most of her life working with disadvantaged and underprivileged students, working with Des Moines Community Corrections, and at Simpson College, where she also was the director of the Upward Bound program. With Upward Bound, she accompanied students along with two of her children on survival outings in the caves of Kentucky. She worked at community colleges in California, Des Moines, Miles City and Poplar. She moved to Miles City, MT,  in 1977, where she taught English at Miles Community College. She was the driving force in setting up the adult education/GED program that serves eastern Montana, creating several satellite offices to allow rural residents to take classes.  As busy as she was at Miles Community College, she still had time to have fun, including taking a dance class with her future son-in-law, which was a useless endeavor for both of them since they had four left feet between the two of them, and joining the “old ladies walking club”, as she claimed to her children, which actually consisted of playing soccer with her male students.

She next moved to California to be close to children and grandchildren. In the decade she lived there, she taught adult education at Long Beach City College and worked in the administration department at Ventura College. After her time in California, she moved to Missoula to be close to another daughter and grandchildren. While there, she faithfully attended all the grandchildren’s musical performances and school activities.

In 2002, she moved to Hysham, MT, where she could be close to other members of the family. When she moved to Hysham, she fully embraced being a Pirate football, basketball, volleyball and track fan, even constructing a black and gold fence to show her support for all her Hysham grandchildren’s sports which also included baseball and Tae Kwon Do. She greatly enjoyed supporting her grandsons in nearby Colstrip as they performed in music, theater and speech and drama and track.

In later years, she tutored inmates at the Rosebud County Jail, working with them on reading and writing skills. For a time she worked as a proofreader for the Independent Press. Even after a stroke stole her mobility in 2014, Shirley was an avid reader and enthusiastic grammarian. Despite her physical challenges, she continued to educate those around her. For Shirley, education was a lifelong mission.

She took great pride in the creativity, intellectual endeavors, compassion, musical ability and free spiritedness of her children, which then extended to her grandchildren. Shirley, affectionately known as Granny B., was a wonderful grandmother, taking time to know her grandchildren as individuals. She loved coming up with projects to complete together; baking, reading novels, and completing puzzles held a special place in her heart. She even knew exactly how each grandkid liked their toast cut, and agreed that it really did make it taste better. An avid reader, Shirley passed that love on to her grandchildren. She used her “book of the month club” subscription to buy much-appreciated book gifts for her grandchildren, and wrote a special inscription in the front of each one. She continued to be incredibly proud of her grandchildren throughout her life, displaying their graduation photos on the wall of her room and talking to visitors about their accomplishments. When she received a CD of one of her grandchildren performing as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, she played it so many times she literally wore the disk out.  Shirley was deeply proud of all of her grandchildren, and enjoyed their differences, encouraging each of them to embrace their own unique selves. She influenced their tastes in books, movies and encouraged life discussion over pie and cookies, teaching the importance of doing things “just right.”

She is survived by her four children Julia (Steve) Hollowell of Hysham, MT, Rebecca Bertin of Missoula, MT, Tanya Bertin of Des Moines, IA, Jim (Kate) Bertin of Colstrip, MT, with 14 grandchildren: Letitia (Ryan), Adrienne and Kelvin; Kael, Dain, Tait (Sarah), and Tatia (Coul); Tor, Thain and Kian; and Eddie, Tibi, Madeline (Ryan), and William. She also has five great-grandchildren, Dominic, Vini, Oliver, Penelope, and Cypress; a step-great-grandchild Ezekiel, her sister Elizabeth of Colorado Springs; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents Lucile and Herbert, her brothers Johnny, Norman, Hank and Francis, her sisters Pauline, Jenny, and Juanita. She was proud of all her family, and kept in touch with her extended family, writing and receiving lengthy letters nearly to the end.

Shirley’s family will miss her each and every day, but holidays especially will seem a little emptier. She was quick with a joke and kept everyone on their toes. A highlight of family gatherings was always her pies, especially her famous French silk. On Thanksgiving, it often took at least four grandkids to move all the pies across the street from her house. Her hours spent in the kitchen were truly a labor of love.

She loved to talk about her children and grandchildren. In fact, she was talking about her children at the very end, passing away peacefully mid-sentence with a smile on her face.

At Shirley’s request, no services will be held. A private family memorial will occur at a later date. Memorial donations can be made in Shirley’s name to Simbolei Academy, a girl’s school in Kenya run by Shirley’s niece, Andrea. Donations can be made through simboleiacademy.org, or send a check made out to “Simbolei” to Kibor Kaitany, 114 Oakdale, #5, Royal Oak, MI, 48067.

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