Krekeler, Bertha

Bertha Krekeler is life-long Niobraran

Bertha Krekeler, of Lusk, is a native of Niobrara County, being born in Manville and attending school there. She has lived in Niobrara County for all but one year of her life.

Krekeler moved with her family to Lusk in 1937. She began working for Frank Viele in the drug store at Lance Creek. He also owned drug stores in Lusk and Harrison, Neb.

"I worked in the Lance Creek store. When I moved to Lusk I worked in the store here. I also worked for Jess Willard who bought the store from Frank Viele. That's who we (Herb Klindt and his wife Nola, and Otto and Bertha Krekeler) bought it from in 1947. We sold to Pat Sperry in 1983," Krekeler said.

She married Otto "Okie" Krekeler Oct. 12, 1941 in Lusk. They have two sons, Randall, who lives in Anaheim, Calif., and Richard of Allen, Texas. She also has one grandson, Junior, and a granddaughter, Kathryn.

Krekeler's mother, Lugena Bare, was born on the Bare Ranch near the Buttes. Her father was born in Tobias, Neb. and came to Wyoming with his family and his uncles when he was six years old, in 1896.

"All the Baughns settled in the Manville area. My Grandma Baughn had a ranch south of Manville. The Foshers bought part of that. My grandma held the mineral rights on the property for 90 years and Vernal (Fosher) called me the other day and said they had expired.

"Grandma Bare is in the book of Wyoming Women that's in the Stagecoach Museum. She raised cattle and horses and did some farming," Krekeler said. "She migrated from Missouri to Colorado and then up to the Rawhide Buttes where the ranch was."

"Dad worked for the Union Oil Company in Lance Creek. We lived in Camp Six," she said.
Krekeler was raised on a ranch and in Manville. Among her many duties were gathering the eggs, getting the lamps ready for the evening and washing the separator, a job she did not like. She also helped with housework and enjoyed cooking. "I loved to cook then," she said.

One of her favorite memories of her youth was riding horses. "I love to ride horseback," she said.

"Dad was a road builder and he freighted pipe during the first oil boom in Lance Creek (in the early 1920's while we were living in Manville. He freighted from Manville to Lance Creek with two teams and a wagon. Harold Fosher was one of his drivers. They'd go out one day and come back the next," she said. "And he sheared sheep in the early '20s" she said. This was the hand shearing. Shearing was one of his jobs in the early to mid 1920's, she said.

"Dad worked for Mr. Higgins near Glenrock one year," she said, accounting for the one year she did not live in Niobrara County.

Krekeler has one brother, Harry C. Baughn, of Torrington and her sister, Estella Mary Peet died recently. Krekeler was active in various organizations in the community, including Epsilon Sigma Alpha, an organization based out of Loveland, Colo., that did community projects such as the community birthday calendar; American legion Auxiliary, Episcopal Ladies Guild when it was in existence, and was a charter member of the Modern Matrons Extension Club. When her husband became ill, she dropped out of the clubs and organizations to take care of him. He died in 1988.

She now belongs to the Bryant-Kant Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary in Manville. Krekeler said she also enjoys dancing as one of her many activities.

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