Bertha Armstrong
Bertha Mae Armstrong
DOB: 5/19/43 - 81 yrs. old
For her entire life in Fluvanna, Bertha Armstrong has been committed to helping people in need. She says with a big smile, “I love people . . . period.”
During her childhood in the 1940s and 1950s, Bertha lived on Hardware Road in Fluvanna. Bertha’s role model was her Aunt Effie, who had a beautiful voice and sang in the choir. Aunt Effie was Black and her husband, Uncle Carl Tutwile, was White. Though Uncle Tutwile was “different,” this was not openly discussed, as interracial marriage was illegal in the U.S. until 1967. Bertha recalls that the Tutwiles were much beloved in Fluvanna. Effie was a cook for the Fluvanna Schools for over 50 years and Carl was a janitor in the schools.
Bertha’s mother, Virginia Brice Kelley, worked at The Hole in the Wall restaurant in Scottsville, where she served the Black folks in the back room of this segregated restaurant. When young, Virginia had difficulty reading but she became a good reader, learning while she was a teacher’s aide at Cunningham Elementary School.
Bertha’s father, Phillip Kelley, Sr., worked as the top hand at a sawmill for 25 cents an hour. Bertha says, “My Dad was the best Dad in the world.” Phillip raised chickens, pigs and had a garden. She recalls that he took care of folks in the neighborhood, sharing the food he raised.
By today’s definition, Bertha grew up in poverty, but she says she did not feel poor. In her clean four-room home, there was no running water, some slept on a straw mattress, and cooking was done on a wood stove. They canned food for the winter months. This loving and caring family (also including two brothers and a sister who died at a young age), had everything they needed.
Bertha attended the Dunbar School, a Rosenwald School for Black children. She was the May Queen when she was about nine years old, selected out of all the Rosenwald Schools for the May Day Festival. The festival included parade floats, a May Pole dance, and games. For high school, Bertha went to S.C. Abrams, where she graduated as salutatorian.
After high school, Bertha worked a few short-term jobs before beginning work in 1968 with Community Action, which later became Monticello Area Community Action Agency (MACAA). Its mission has been to empower families in need to navigate out of poverty through education, connection with resources, and advocacy. For 54 years, until 2022, Bertha led the work at MACAA for Fluvanna, Louisa and Nelson Counties. She retired at the age of 79 but has recently resumed working there part-time. Bertha also served as an elected official on the Fluvanna School Board for 16 years, and continues to serve on many non-profit boards.
Bertha’s faith has been central to her life. She is a member of the Union Baptist Church Shores, which was founded in 1871 to serve as a place for worship and refuge for newly emancipated African-Americans. Bertha has been married for 62 years to William. They had two children, a son who is deceased and a daughter who recently returned to live in Fluvanna.
Bertha thinks folks would describe her as a leader, bossy and a matriarch. She wants to be remembered as someone who is caring, honest, loves people, and is crazy about her family. She is widely considered to be a treasure for her contributions to the larger Fluvanna community and because of her strength of character.