Sunday, Nov. 09, 2008

Ripon woman, 90, model of strength

Gertie now lives at Beth Haven in Ripon. She and Case Butterman married in 1941. "That first year of World War II was not the ideal time to marry, " Gertie said, "but young love doesn't worry about the future."

That feeling of being young and invincible proved true in more ways than one. The strapping young husband was in his late 20s when he became involved in a strike against the Germans, who were setting up concentration camps.

Two years later, while living in Amsterdam, her husband started a print shop in the front part of their small home. One afternoon while Gertie was in the kitchen, she heard Case call out to her, "I have to leave, but I'll be back." There was not a trace of alarm in his voice. There was also not a trace of her husband for several days before she learned the Germans had come for him that afternoon. A protective Case had not wanted his wife to see the men and begin to panic.

Gertie immediately returned to her hometown to live with her family. Ten days later, a young man came by, bearing greetings from Case. "I was there with your husband (held captive in a famous Amsterdam jail), but I escaped and promised him I'd get word to you that he is doing OK."

The next day, Gertie received a card in the mail instructing her to pack toiletries and head for the jail where Case was imprisoned. When she arrived, though, she learned he'd been sent on to a concentration camp at Dachau. Gertie prayed all through the years of a raging WWII.

The 1945 economy nearly ruined Holland, with no cars, trains, household electricity or substantial food of any kind. Gertie's family home had much land, and at least a limited amount of beans and such, drawing people from surrounding cities to its doorstep, begging for food. Gertie often thought about Case and what little food he must be getting, and the long hours of labor he must be enduring. She prayed faithfully and was relieved to learn that because he had the skills of a printer, he was useful to his captors and did not have to work backbreaking days in the intense heat.

"One day, our minister paid me a visit and I recall telling him I was afraid my faith was no longer big enough." He responded, 'Of course it is, but sometimes circumstances must wait themselves out.' "

As wartime was winding down, word came that Case was on his way to Holland. The Germans were taking those prisoners still alive to a mountaintop at the border of Austria and Germany. There they planned to shoot them and let the bodies fall into the ravine. There was rumor, though, that American soldiers were within a three-mile radius and were on their way. Fearing the soldiers, the Germans fled for their lives. Those American soldiers came in truckloads to rescue the prisoners, "my husband, included," Gertie said.

She counts herself blessed. "We'd shared 37 years of marriage and four beautiful children. My Case was 64 years old at the time of his passing. At age 62, he retired from the San Jose Mercury News. At that time, in the '70s, there was no pension for the spouse. I then had to begin cleaning houses to survive. Again, I prayed faithfully. And then one day my brother-in-law wrote me asking, 'Why not apply for a spousal pension for those who were in concentration camps?' I questioned, 'Even though I'm now an American citizen? How can I do that?' But, at his suggestion, I sought out and was granted a beautiful pension (from the Netherlands) for 28 years and going strong. I was so grateful I would no longer need to clean houses."

I am grateful to have met a woman who displayed such strength and faith through wartime years, through a time of famine, through the failing health of her husband and through the fear of monetary struggles after his passing. Gertie, now 90, has an alert mind with an interest in politics. She enjoys reading her morning paper and watching the world news, and she welcomes "drop in" visits, which brighten her day!

Nancy Russo is a writer who lives in Ripon.