Bertis Franklin Heath & Olive Gladys Shepherd Family

   

 

This page is devoted to all of the documents and records collected for the Bert Heath family. Bert lost his father just before his 3rd birthday. Life after that was not easy. His mother remarried (William Smith) and Bert suffered under his stepfather. He finally left home and lived with a neighboring family until his mother left William Smith and Rachel's father rented a farm for them. Bert returned to the family at that point until he left for the oil fields of California. Once there, he persuaded 18 year old Olive Gladys Shepherd to travel from Kansas to California and marry him. Gladys (as she was known for her adult life) had been born in Wabaunsee County, Kansas. Her family spent a few years in Missouri before returning to Kansas. Her mother died just as the family was settling in to life in the town of El Dorado, Butler County, Kansas. Gladys was just 12 years old. It was in Butler County that she met the young oil worker Bert Heath.

Immediately married after her arrival, they started a full life in California. They had 2 children and were active in their church and community. Bert worked steadily in the oil fields even through the Great Depression. Eventually they grew apart and were divorced in the 1940s. Each later remarried (Gladys twice). Bert died in 1964 due to complications from a cancerous tumor. Gladys lived until 1994. She enjoyed a long fruitful life.

 

Bert Heath Family Group Sheet

Bert Heath Federal Censuses :  1910   1920    1930   1940

Bert Heath Birth Record

Olive Gladys Shepherd Birth Record - A delayed birth certificate when she needed to prove age later in life.

Olive Shepherd 2nd Grade Report Card - The second page grading was done by her mother.

Bert Heath and Olive Gladys Shepherd Marriage Certificate

 

Gladys Baptism Certificate - Gladys was baptised as an adult during a visit to Kansas in 1929.

1st Home for Bert and Gladys - Compliments of Google Maps. They lived in an upstairs back apartment.

Newspaper Articles for Bert and Gladys' family. There are so many we have separated them by decade  -  1920s   1930s   1940s

Heath Voter Registration : 1926  1928  1930  1932  1934  1936  1938  1940  1942

Bert Heath Social Security Application

Bert Heath Draft Card WWI

Bert Heath Death Certificate

Bert Heath Obituary

 

Bert Heath Funeral Book

 

Gladys Marriage Cert - This is for her third marriage to Earl Choate in 1959

 

Gladys 87th Birthday - This was a lovely article by a local newspaper in 1993

Olive Gladys Shepherd Heath King Choate Death Certificate

Gladys Ashes Spread at Sea

 

 

 

Last updated - 23 August 2018