Roll Call Tribute

Buffington Funeral Home obituary
520 North Ave C
Shiner, TX
361-594-3352

Donald Roy Wertz
APRIL 18, 1914 – DECEMBER 8, 2017

Donald Roy Wertz Sr., longtime Shiner resident, was finally called to Glory on Friday, December 8, at the age of 103. He was living in Schulenburg in the home of Rose and Peewee Cardenas, his devoted caregivers.

Born April 18, 1914, in Windber, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Roy Garfield and Myrl (Menoher) Wertz. He grew up in Johnstown until his family moved to Texas in 1928, settling in San Antonio, graduating from Harlandale High in 1931. He went to Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College, graduating in 1935 with a Bachelor of Science in Dairy Husbandry. He worked for 3 years at the Dairyland milk plant in San Antonio, until he decided he was more interested in music. He enrolled at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where in 1941 he earned a second degree, in Music Education. Fate intervened when he met the lovely and vivacious Betty Tibbetts in the School of Music. He entered military service in July of 1941, with the 144th Infantry Regiment of the 36th Division in Camp Bowie in Brownwood, Texas, and on June 19, 1943, back in Illinois, he and Betty were married. In January of 1944 Lt. Wertz was shipped to the Pacific Theater, first in the Hawaiian Islands, then New Guinea, Moratai Island Luzon in the Philippines, and finally Osaka-Kobe, Japan, returning to the States in December of 1945, where he collected Betty in Lake Forest and they moved to San Antonio. He managed the Apache Creamery there, then took a similar position in Dallas. In 1948 he and Betty moved to Bay City. There he opened Bayland Dairy, his one-man operation in which he did everything but milk the cows and deliver. In 1951, upon the death of his father, he inherited his Dad’s John Deere dealership. In Bay City, Don was active in Rotary, and served two terms on the Bay City school board. He and Betty were very involved with the First Christian Church, he as Choir Director and she as Organist. As trained and accomplished singers, both were in demand as soloists for the Bay City Community Chorus annual performances of Handel’s Messiah, and other choral events. Don sold his John Deere dealership in 1971, whereupon he and Betty went to Thailand for a year, teaching music and English. When they returned, they moved to property he had purchased years earlier outside of Shiner, where they built a house and he began his career as a rancher. As the pair had done in Bay City, he became choir director and she organist at the United Methodist Church in Shiner, an important and rewarding ministry to them. Betty passed away in April 1999 after a long illness, and Don married Hertha Buske, who was a member of the church choir and a very good friend. It was a comforting and happy union for the widowed pair. After Hertha died in 2003, Don lived on at the ranch he so dearly loved, but age caught up with him; at age 98 it was no longer safe for him to be alone out in the country, even with his very attentive neighbors checking on him daily. At the urging of his family, he went into assisted living at College Place in Schulenburg, where he received superlative care, and was soon a fixture there. By age 101, however, his mounting physical difficulties became too much for assisted living. Fortunately, the capable and caring Rose and Peewee Cardenas took him into their home, to provide excellent 24 hour care, and he was able to live out his remaining days in comfort and safety.

Don is survived by his sons Donald, Jr. of Austin, and Al and his wife Sharon and their children Alicia and Allan and Allan’s wife Claire, all of Houston, his “second family”, Hertha’s son Bobby Buske and wife Mary of The Woodlands, and daughter Irene and her husband Gene Cerny, and their children and grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents; Roy and Myrl Wertz, his loving wives; Betty and Hertha, his sister; Sue wertz, and a grandson; Aaron Charles Wertz.

A Memorial Service will be held at Shiner First United Methodist Church at 11:00 am on Saturday, December 30, 2017 with Reverend Amy McClung officiating. A reception will follow in the Church fellowship hall.

If you wish to make a charitable donation in Dad’s name please contribute to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation or to the First United Methodist Church of Shiner.

You may order flowers at anytime to be delivered to the Shiner First United Methodist Church for the Service on December 30th.

To join the family in celebrating Don’s life and to offer words of comfort, please go to: www.buffingtonfuneralhomeshiner.com
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BUFFINGTON FUNERAL HOME service notice
520 NORTH AVE C, SHINER, TX 77984 | 361-594-3352

Donald Roy Wertz
April 18, 1914 - December 8, 2017

Memorial Service
Saturday, December 30, 2017 | 11:00 am
First United Methodist Church
Shiner, Texas
Driving Directions

Arrangements under the direction of Buffington Funeral Home, Shiner, TX.
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Sent by son

DONALD R. WERTZ, SR ‘35
Shiner, Texas; formerly Bay City, Texas
April 18, 1914 – December 8, 2017

At A&M: Corps of Cadets; Aggie Band
World War II Veteran, U.S. Army
Pacific Theater

Owner, Omega Ranch, Shiner
Previously owned John Deere dealership, Bay City

Preceded in death: wife of 56 years, Betty
Survivors: two sons, including Al Wertz ’73; two grandchildren