James Ernest Bertwell

JAMES ERNEST "JIMMY" BERTWELL Funeral services for longtime Cortez resident James Ernest "Jimmy" Bertwell will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 19 at the Cortez Elks Lodge #1789. Interment will follow at Cortez Cemetery. Pastor Al Strauss will officiate. Visitation has been scheduled for Friday afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m. at Ertel Memorial Chapel. Jimmy was born on October 29, 1913 in Milwaukee, Wis. the son of James Ernest Bertwell Sr. and Mary (Rothchild) Bertwell. He passed away on Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at Southwest Memorial Hospital at the age of 97. On December 9, 1934, Jimmy married Opal Irene Marsell in Durango. Part of Jimmy's working life kept him busy in the livestock industry. He was well known in that field as a hardworking entrepreneur. Jimmy loved and invited challenges in his life. In 1976, he and business partners sold the Ford Garage to Keesee Motors. Jimmy was a lifetime Charter Member of the Cortez Elks Lodge #1789. He also served the community as a City Councilman from 1950-1958. Jimmy also put his creative entrepreneurship to work by buying military Jeep units and then leased them to the United States Government for use as mail trucks in the western United States. Surviving Jimmy are his children, Ken Bertwell and wife, Shirley of Moab, Utah and Janet Jones and husband, Jeff of Page, Ariz.; 10 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; his niece, Martha Ellen Breckheimer of LaCanada, Calif.; and his nephew, Carl Wulfestieg of Naples, Florida. Jimmy was preceded in death by his parents; by his wife, Opal Bertwell in March of 2003; by his daughter, Yvonne Marie Kinney; by his sister, Edith Wulfestieg; and by his grandchild, Edena Vonne Akin. Memorial contributions may be made in Jimmy's name to the Salvation Army or the Humane Society.