Denise Jeannette Aldax-Berty

A graveside memorial service is 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Garden Cemetery in Gardnerville for native Nevadan Denise Jeannette Aldax-Berty, 70, of Hood River, Ore., who died March 2, 2010, at Providence Hospital in Portland, Ore., with family by her side.

Born in Carson City on Sept. 22, 1939, to Arnold and Louis Aldax, she lived on the ranch founded by her French-Basque grandfather, Jean-Pierre Aldax, who immigrated to the Carson Valley and South Lake Tahoe area where he worked for a local cattle company. That work later provided him with land to start a sheep herding ranch.

When she was a girl, a family tragedy took her parents and brother, and she was raised by Minden residents Jim and Amy Darrough. After graduating from Douglas County High School, she attended a Catholic preparatory school in San Rafael, Calif.

Following graduation, she enrolled at Stephen's College in Columbia, Mo., where she met her future husband, Milton Berty, at a local fraternity party. The two were married in 1959.

By 1960, the couple had relocated to Lodi, Calif., where they started to raise a family. Mrs. Aldax-Berty spent time living in San Carlos and Cupertino, Calif., Arlington Heights, Ill., and then Palos Verdes, Calif.

The family also lived in Westlake Village and Agoura, Calif., where Mrs. Aldax-Berty honed her culinary skills. She was also an accomplished pianist, and shared her love of music with her children and friends.

She worked in retail sales, where she earned many sales awards from a major department store chain. She worked for Princess Cruises, where she ran the on-board gift shop aboard the Pacific Princess.

She relocated to Hood River Valley in 1998, where she worked at Providence Hood River Hospital and Hawk's Ridge Assisted Living Center prior to retiring.

In addition to cooking and entertaining, she also loved crafting and glazing a wide variety of ceramics along with knitting all forms of clothing accessories.

She is survived by her sons Paul (Jessica) Berty and Christopher Berty; and daughter Paige and fiance Bill.

Donations may be made to the metastatic breast cancer information and support site, BCMets.org or the Douglas County Historical Society.