Bertha Mae Byrd Ryles

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Posted by: bottomsgardenchapel
Date: Jan 15 2020 9:29 PM

Bertha Mae Byrd Ryles, age 100 of Hartford, Alabama died January 13 at Dothan’s Southeast Health Medical Center. She is survived by a son, Tim Cody Ryles, Ph.D., and his wife Jennifer Susan Ryles of Brunswick, Georgia; son-in law Oscar Hughes of Hartford; grandchildren Michael Allen Hughes of Birmingham; Rene Ryles-Endres of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida; Andrea Neeley Ryles of Tucker, Georgia; Heather Auld Wilson (Adam) of Atlanta; two great grandchildren Cody Ryles-Endres of Santa Rosa Beach and Liam Reid Wilson of Atlanta, along with numerous relatives throughout the Wiregrass area.

Visitation is set for Friday evening, January 17^th, from 6 P.M. until 8 P.M. at Bottoms Garden Chapel Funeral Home, 12118 East State Highway 52, Hartford. Funeral services will begin 11:00 A.M. Saturday, January 18 at Shiloh Baptist Church, 873 N Shiloh Road, also in Hartford. Burial will be at the Hartford cemetery. The home of Oscar Hughes, 10975 County Road 41 (The Farm) is the location for family visits prior to visitation hours.

Mrs. Ryles was preceded in death by her husband of 60 years, Cody Ryles, and daughter Betty Sue Ryles Hughes. Bertha Mae Byrd Ryles is the daughter of Acrel Monroe Byrd (1887-1953) and Sarah Gertrude Collins Byrd (1892-1926). Her Byrd siblings, all deceased, were Acrel Lewis; Otis Clinton; J.T.; Alma Bernell; Sara Bessie and Julius Henry.

Bertha Mae Byrd, affectionally known as Me-Mom to the Grands, was born September 1, 1919 in Geneva County, Alabama into a family whose lineage traces back to the 1066 Norman Invasion of Britain. She lived most of her life within three miles of her birth place north of Hartford. She was forced by a tragic circumstance to grow up quickly when her mother, Gertrude, died unexpectedly in 1926 and many adult level tasks, including care of a 16- month old sister (Bernell) fell upon the shoulders of seven-year old Bertha. Aside from child care and household duties, their family farm responsibilities meant that she also became a field hand picking cotton, harvesting corn, milking cows, and plowing the fields. Reminiscing, she would often explain, “I stared a mule in the rear end many a day.” Well, it wasn’t stated exactly that way, but readers should get the idea.

She was a good junior high school basketball player, but she excelled at learning. When circumstances precluded her from completing high school, Bertha chose to repeat the ninth grade at the school founded by relatives, The Kinsaul School. “It was more than worth it,” she said. “They changed textbooks.” Her educational interests affected her religious values as well, leading her to a great enjoyment of Sunday School preparation and discussion. Visitors could always find a book of crossword puzzles beside her chair right up to the time of a fatal last stroke.

With many of her dreams denied or deferred, she defied her father’s wishes, and, at the age of 19, married “the only man I ever loved,” Cody Ryles.

Bertha loved the land, loved working the soil, reaping its fruits, looked forward to sharing the peas, butterbeans, tomatoes, figs, and peaches produced by the land. Her calendars, some still filed away in closets, are daily records of rainfall, high and low temperatures. Long after she was no longer financially dependent on whether the crops were good, she still felt the pain when adverse weather cut the harvest. She would also feel the joy when things went well.

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