Bertha Lee Gaston's Obituary
Ms. Bertha Lee Gaston passed away peacefully in her sleep on September 30, 2023, intransition to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. She was a mom, grand-mom, sister, aunt and friend.She was born in Meridian, Mississippi on June 22, 1946. She was born to Claude Gaston andEstella Thigpin Gaston. She was one of seven siblings including: one brother and five sisters.
She migrated to the north in 1980 to be nearer to her family, who had mainly migrated to theEast St. Louis area from Mississippi. She decidedly made her home in the north as well in thecity of Muskegon, Michigan where she would become a single mom and domestic worker.
She loved the church; she planted seeds and love offerings in various ministry leaders and areaministries that she loved and had a great deal of respect for. Some of those ministries included:St. John C.O.G.I.C., Westside C.O.G.I.C., and Mt. Zion C.O.G.I.C. She also loved theteachings of Kenneth Copeland and his wife. This made sense because her father was a pastorwho wanted his children to have a great love and respect for the church and the power ofexcellence in ministry. Her mother and father would have been pleased that she would come toconfess Jesus Christ as her Lord, prayed the prayer of repentance and sought the Lord for theeternal redemption of her soul.
Also, while unknown to most, she supported a number of non-profit organizations on a regularbasis, including: The Wounded Warrior Project, St. Jude, The Suzan G. Coleman Foundation,The United Negro College Fund, and a number of other relevant humanitarian organizationefforts.
Unable to give birth to children of her own, she was blessed to become the mom of oneadoptive daughter (Constanica); the birth daughter of her beloved Sister Evelyn Bell. She hadone beautiful grand-daughter that she loved dearly, Mrs. Cassandra Lee (Jones) Wilson, whobears her middle name.
Her nieces and nephews were also close to her heart and brought her joy. She loved to speak tothem on the phone when she was not able to visit them in person and they wrote many lettersback and forth. She took great interest in them and their children's children's lives, this broughther great joy too.
Her parents preceded her in death; she lost her mom as a very young girl and her father as ayoung woman. Five of her siblings also preceded her in death (Evelyn, Louise, Claudia, Isaiah,and Bethine) and due to the untimely deaths of two of her youngest sisters at the hands ofviolence, this made her even more so a none stranger to pain and loss. She would also loseother siblings in her lifetime; this brought her lots of enduring pain and sadness because of thelove she had for her siblings and whole family. This caused her to cleave to her nieces andnephews. She was happy to be close to them. She learned to cleave to them more and more inthe absence of their parents and cared about the voids they experienced, only because sheknew the sting of those losses all too well as she was experiencing the same pain.
Ms. Bertha Lee Gaston, was loved and cherished by many. So many godly relatives and saintscared for her by way of prayer, intercession and supplication for her to be healed in her body,but also for her soul to be saved and a peaceful godly transition into eternal glory. In this way,she certainly found favor with God who showed his love for her life and for her soul, throughmany passionate and powerful prayer warriors.
She leaves behind her daughter Constanica Bathsheba Jones, grand-daughter Cassandra Lee(Jones) Wilson, and her sister Ruth Firstlist. She also leaves behind many, many nieces andnephews and great nieces and nephews.
She will be truly missed by all of those that she leaves behind.
A Celebration of Life Service will be held at Muskegon Central UMC, 1011 Second Street, Muskegon, Michigan at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 7, 2023. Memorial contributions may be directed to the family.
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