Pictured above are left to right: Paul, Anna Elvera, Mary Leone and Bertha in about 1930.
After the death of her beloved Hugh McEachran, Bertha went to work for a German immigrant man who owned his own restaurant. He hired her as his cook for the business. She became close to him and admired the fact that he was so good to her girls. She married Paul Robert Helmut Scharfenberg (1881-1861)in 1921.
After their marriage Paul built Bertha and the girls a lovely home in St. Paul. Meanwhile, he earned his money by boot-legging during prohibition. As a result he was occasionally in trouble with the law. The business must have been profitable because he moved the it several times so he could continue to sell the liquor under the table.
Finally, Bertha demanded, that he quit the illegal business and get a legal job. He went to work for a big company that built refrigerators. While working, an appliance fell on his foot and he developed gangrene. The disease spread into both legs and he ended up a double amputee for the last ten years of his life.
An interesting note was that when Bertha was married to Hugh, she meet a
lady who told her that in her future was a man who had wheels instead of legs. Bertha thought the woman was crazy. Forty years later she found that in deed the
woman was correct.
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