Bertha Podwys

Bertha U. Siegl-Podwys was just sixteen days short of her 99th birthday when she passed away peacefully early evening Friday, November 12, 2021, in the care of Hospice with her family by her side.

Born on November 28, 1922, raised on her family’s farm in Berwick Pennsylvania as the twelfth of thirteen children by Paul and Bertha Urban. As a young child, Bertha enjoyed playing outdoor sports with all her older brothers. So, it’s no surprise that she would pursue a career that would do something involving planes. Her career started with Grumman Aerospace as a part assembly worker, and later with Northrup Grumman Aerospace as a bookkeeper. While working with Grumman, Bertha joined their bowling and golf teams and excelled and asked to be on the company’s team of competition in both areas of sports which would involve traveling within the United States and playing against other company teams in which she won several single and team tournaments and accumulated a vast collection of first place awards.

During this time at the brink of the United States entering World War II Bertha met and married Private Godfrey H. Siegl who would later become Spec Tech II as an Interpreter for the U.S. Army. They married in June of 1942 in Brooklyn, New York and upon his return, they had four children and moved to Hicksville, Long Island, New York.

Bertha remained betrothed until his death in April of 1981. Upon her husband’s retirement in 1976, they relocated down to Citrus County Florida, where they purchased a home at the residence in the town of Inverness. Bertha obtained her GED at the age of 65 and continued to serve her community as a school bus driver and later as a driver of the Handicap school bus for a total of 10 years in the school system.

It was not too long before Bertha met Stanley Podwys a retired Ford Engineer while taking ballroom dance lessons which led to their marriage in October of 1987. Together, they shared the same common interest in flying airplanes, enabling her to finally complete her lifelong dream of obtaining a pilot’s license on June 23, 1990, at the age of 68. Over the years, Bertha enjoyed life and traveling the world over with her new husband. She was a proud member of The 99s Organization of Women Pilots in the Florida Suncoast Chapter.