Bertha Elizabeth Maibach died in Vicksburg on Jan. 2, 2018, at the age of 107 years and 9 months. She was born in Pittsburgh, Penn., on March 20, 1910, to Arthur James Schmeltz and Allie Dell Schmeltz.  She was the third of six children.  She married Joseph Maibach on Feb. 22, 1934, and she remained married to him for over 56 years until he died in June, 1990.

She lived a long and wonderful life and remembers seeing her first airplane flying over the neighborhood in 1918, and remembers Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic in 1927, and remembers the advent of social security in the 1930’s. She also has memories of attending silent movies as a child for 10 cents where a live piano player was always present in the front of the movie theater. Of course, she remembers the advent of sound in the movies when the “talkies” came out.

Bertha never had any children, but is survived by numerous relatives, including  nephews; nieces; great-nieces; and great-nephews.

She graduated from East Pittsburgh High School in 1929 and received a diploma from Curry College in Pittsburgh in 1930. She began working for Mine Safety Appliances Company in Pittsburgh in 1930 and worked until the early

1940’s, when gas rationing forced her to quit her job. She remembers the widespread flu epidemic in the country in 1919, and since she was the only one in the family who did not get sick, she has memories of doing the household chores and getting groceries for the entire family while school was closed for several months. She moved to Vicksburg with her husband in April of 1955, when he was transferred from Pittsburgh to Vicksburg to work at the then new Westinghouse Plant. She had lived in Vicksburg continuously since that time.

Bertha was taken care of in her later years by her longtime friend and neighbor, Betty Sharpe.