Memorial set for former Beatty board member

A memorial service for former Beatty Town Advisory Board member Bert Bertram will be held Sept. 14 at 2 p.m. at the Beatty Community Center. There will also be a pot luck meal.

Bertram passed away July 28 in Las Vegas, and his son, Rich, wanted to hold the memorial service earlier but was told many people would be gone until school started. He felt it was important to allow as many people as possible to attend the service for the man who was so dedicated to serving the town.

“Beatty was everything to him,” says Rich. “He worked tirelessly to put Beatty on the map,” which he did literally by spearheading the effort to establish the town’s boundaries and get it legally recognized.

His son says that Bertram also worked hard to help Beatty to grow, courting solar energy developers and car testers, but that he said that if the town ever put up a stoplight he would feel he’d overstepped his bounds.

Bertram served longest of anyone, 12 years, on the town’s advisory board. During that time, he oversaw a number of projects including expansion of the community center, the installation of ornamental street lights and benches, and the initial work on a Town Square park with the town clock, town Christmas tree and memorial boulder.

He worked on the town’s open space plan and area plan, and served on the Habitat Committee, the Amargosa Toad Working Group, and any other group he could help with.

He lent technical expertise to the purchase and installation of the sound and lighting systems in the Community Center and also helped people out with their personal computer problems.

Bertram also informally operated what his son referred to as a “road call service.” People stuck on the highway with some problem could call him, and he would rush to their aid.

He also brought the first Internet service (other than Juno) to Beatty.

As his son put it, “He was involved in everything and took a personal interest in everything.”

Bertram was a Vietnam veteran. “Most people don’t know he was a war hero,” says his son. He also played in a band in the Air Force. When he retired from the service, he took a job at the Toliche Peak Air Force tracking station.

For the last several years he and his son would exchange daily “roll call” telephone conversations, in which Beatty was the main topic “other than NASCAR.” “Beatty was everything to him,” says Rich.