Bertha Wilhelmina Larson Doremus, age 89, died Oct. 14 at Messenger House Care Center after a long bout with cancer.

She was born Nov. 12, 1913 in Firth, Idaho, to the Claus Larson family, Swedish immigrants.

She and her brother Roland were raised on a ranch that her father homesteaded after leaving a career as a mining engineer in Minnesota. in In 1907, her mother had come from Sweden on the liner Lusitania’s maiden voyage to marry Claus after a romance by correspondence.

Bertha graduated from Firth High School and the University of Idaho, Moscow, where she was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority.

She taught in several Idaho high schools before entering the University of Chicago, where she earned a master’s degree in medical social work.

During World War II, she served in the American Red Cross at Letterman (San Francisco) and Madigan hospitals, providing social services to wounded servicemen on their arrival home from the South Pacific.

After several years as a social worker at Harborview in Seattle, she became affiliated with the University of Washington Hospital as a member of the clinical faculty of rehabilitation, where she served from 1962 to 1992.

During that time, when on part-time, she also developed a social work department at Northwest Hospital, serving as its director for 12 years.

She was active in the Society for Hospital Work Directors, and served on its national board at the American Hospital Association in Chicago, Ill. She was listed in “Who’s Who of American Women” in 1983.

Teaching, whether in the elementary grades in Idaho or the graduate students at the University of Washington School of Social Work, was the focus of her dedication. Coupled with that were her social services and counseling to disabled patients and their distressed family members under treatment of doctors and staff of the UW Department of Rehabilitation.

She married Edward B. Doremus in 1956, and for 47 years they made their home at Port Madison on Bainbridge Island, sailing and cruising in their boat Venture among the Canadian islands, once to Alaska and twice around Vancouver Island. She enjoyed traveling abroad.

She was an active member of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church and its choir.

Following her retirement, she served as a volunteer in various capacities: consultant in the development of Helpline House, and a board member there; with the Substance Abuse Board of Kitsap County; and with the Kitsap County Health District in Bremerton.

She is survived by husband Edward; nephew Richard Larson of Firth, Idaho; nieces Carolyn Phippen of Pocatello, Idaho, and Janice Maccarillo of Sun Valley, Idaho.

Services will be at 3 p.m. Oct. 25 at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church. A second service arranged by the Larson family will be held at Bethel Lutheran Church in Firth.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to Helpline House, St. Barnabas Youth Services, or to a favorite charity.

Interment is at the Claus Larson family plot in Riverside Memorial Cemetery, Firth, Idaho.