On August 26, 2011, at the rich and remarkable age of 97 years, Myrth Feldmann went home to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. She was born in Atlantic, Iowa, on December 13, 1913, to Robert and Zeta Bell. The family, including her older brother Charles and younger brother Jack, lived in a small apartment above a feed store in Fletcher’s Chapel, a very small farming community. Myrth graduated from Lewis High School, in nearby Lewis, Iowa, and aspired to be a school teacher. She married Glenn Allen in 1934 in Atlantic, Iowa. They moved to Yakima, Washington, and lived for a time with her brother Charles. Their son Bob was born in 1938. In 1942, she and Glenn were divorced. Shortly after, she met Conrad “Connie” Ramirez at a USO function where Connie was singing. She married Connie in 1943. Their daughter Pamela was born in 1944. The family moved to California after WWII, where they settled at Roger Young Village, a housing project for returning soldiers, in Griffith Park, Los Angeles. Here they made many lifelong friends.
In 1953, they purchased their first home in Pacoima in the San Fernando Valley, where they lived in one of thousands of post-war tract houses, which Myrth made cozy and comfortable with love, good cooking, and lots of elbow grease. The door was always open to friends and relatives, especially after softball games, in which Connie pitched. Twenty years later, it was time to retire and move to Fillmore, California, to the El Dorado Mobile Home Park. Here, there was no more work, there were new friends, a new church, and everyone in the park wanted Myrth’s enchilada and cheesy bean recipes. She was tirelessly active at her beloved Bardsdale Methodist church. Connie sang in the choir and Myrth always took charge of the “project table,” raising money for the church selling articles gleaned from countless weekend yard sales. For many years, she delighted friends and relatives with annual gifts of home-made peanut brittle and jam made from the figs on her own tree.
In 1987, Connie passed away, doing what he loved best, playing tennis. Not content to be a lonely widow, Myrth learned to drive, made new friends, and as always gave her time, her talents, her tithes, and her love to everyone she encountered. In 1990, she married Forrest Feldmann, another resident of the El Dorado park, and the couple honeymooned on a cruise ship in Hawaii. After Forrest’s passing in 1997, Myrth retained her home in Fillmore, but became a part-time resident of Basalt, Colorado, where she and daughter Pamela attended the ballet, concerts, plays, benefits, and shopping trips to thrift stores filled with donations from the rich and famous of Aspen.
In 2007, weary of frequent air travel and the cold Colorado weather, she moved in with her son Bob and daughter-in-law Gail in Glendora, California. After three years, Myrth required more specialized care and lived in two assisted living facilities in San Dimas, California: Rainbow of Care and Atria Rancho Park Assisted Living Facility, where she was visited by many loving friends and relatives.
Myrth is survived by Bob Allen, son, of Glendora, California; Gail Allen, daughter-in-law, of Glendora, California; Pamela Nelson, daughter, of Glenwood Springs, Colorado; Ron Bell, nephew, of Colorado Springs, Colorado; Robert Bell, nephew, of Palm Springs, California; Jennifer Vercelli, granddaughter, of Santa Monica, California; Russell Allen, grandson, of Hemet, California; and Debby Wanland, granddaughter, of Dallas, Texas. She is also survived by 5 great grandchildren and 4 great-great grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be made to Bardsdale United Methodist Church.
A memorial service will be held on Sunday, September 18, at 11:30 a.m. at Bardsdale United Methodist Church, 1498 Bardsdale Avenue, Fillmore, California. The service will be followed by a luncheon.