Beverly Jean Olker was born on May 26, 1930, to Herbert and Clyo (Weire) Olker on a farm near Osseo, WI in Eau Claire County. She was baptized on August 23, 1936, at Thompson Valley Methodist Church, Osseo, WI and confirmed in 1943 at Augusta Methodist Church, Augusta, WI. She was later confirmed in the Lutheran faith on February 18, 1951, at University Lutheran Chapel, Minneapolis, MN. Her confirmation verse was Psalm 46:1 – “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”
Bev attended rural school and graduated from Osseo High School in 1948. She then enrolled at Abbott Hospital School of Nursing in Minneapolis, receiving her Registered Nurse degree in September 1951. On October 6, 1951, she was united in marriage to Harold William Bartz at University Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. They moved to Sleepy Eye and Bev was employed as a R.N. at the Sleepy Eye Municipal Hospital and later at the Sleepy Eye Care Center, working the very first night shift when the building opened in September 1972.
Bev was a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church, serving in many capacities for the Ladies’ Aid Society. She relished her sixty years of active membership in the GFWC Woman’s Club of Sleepy Eye and many years of involvement with the Sleepy Eye AFS chapter and Brown County Pork Producers. She was a 4-H leader for the Sleepy Eye Wide Awakes and was a strong supporter of the Sleepy Eye FFA chapter, receiving their 2021 Appreciation Award. Bev was committed to the local Red Cross Bloodmobile, serving as a volunteer for sixty-six years and as a local coordinator for fifty-three years. In 2018, she received the distinguished American Red Cross Give Life Hero Award. The Sleepy Eye Chamber of Commerce recognized Bev as the 2012 Extraordinary Volunteer of the Year. In 2002, Bev and Harold were named Brown County Outstanding Senior Citizens. In 1983, the family was honored as Brown County Farm Family of the Year.
Her faith was reflected in her gentle trust that God is in control; her grateful heart reinforced how blessed she felt every day of her life. She loved her family dearly and treasured their time together. She enjoyed traveling the world with Harold and had the best time with her friends. She was well known for her delectable holiday spritz and candy cane cookies. While Harold gardened, Bev made good use of the bounty – most notably, dill pickles, beet pickles and strawberry jam.
Bev died in the early morning hours on Saturday, October 19, 2024, at the Sleepy Eye Rehabilitation Center – the same facility where she worked years ago.
She is survived by her children – Gregory and wife Mary (Greeley) Bartz of Sleepy Eye, Pamela and husband Jon Melby of Wells, MN, Bradley and wife Nancy (Gabriel) Bartz of Sioux Falls, SD; grandsons – Erik Melby, Justin Melby and wife Gillian (Fernstrom) Melby, Christopher Melby and wife Laura (Espinosa) Melby and their children Mason and Reese, Ryan Bartz, Aaron Bartz and fiancé Rebecca Hiigel; brother-in-law Lyle Puffe of Grand Forks, ND; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Harold, in 2011; parents Bert and Clyo Olker; sister Barbara and husband Charles Barrett; brothers-in-law – Henry and wife Orvilla Bartz, Edwin and wife Ella Bartz, Raymond and wife Alice Bartz, Clifford and wife Betty Bartz, and Richard Bartz in infancy; sisters-in-law – Esther and husband Julian Swanson, Helen and husband Harley Proehl, Margaret and husband Raymond Proehl, Dorothy and husband Oliver Fjerstad, Wilma and husband Norris Svien, Jeanne Puffe, Loretta Bartz in infancy and Bernice Bartz in infancy; several nieces and nephews.
Memorials may be directed to St. John’s Lutheran Church – Sleepy Eye, Sleepy Eye FFA, New Ulm Allina Hospice and Home Care, the American Heart Association or donor’s choice. In addition, please consider donating blood (RedCrossBlood.org or 1-800-733-2767).