Jim and Kathryn Berreth celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary December 30. They were wintertime residents of Mesa, AZ for 30 years before moving to Palo Verde three years ago. They were charter members of Alta Mesa Country Club for 30 years and now enjoy playing golf at Palo Verde and Cottonwood. Kathryn also plays bridge four times a week.
The Berreths are SD natives and lived in Watertown, MN for nearly 40 years before returning to Brookings, SD for the summer months and Mesa in the winter. In the early years they lived for short periods in Chamberlain, SD, Spencerville, OH, and San Diego, CA.
Jim was born in Eureka, SD and is a graduate of South Dakota State University. He was in the newspaper business for over 50 years and for 40 years was publisher of a chain of seven newspapers just west of Minneapolis. He is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, having served as the journalist on an admiral’s staff on four different aircraft carriers.
Kathryn was born in Sioux Falls, SD and is a graduate of Presentation School of Nursing. She was employed as a nurse during the early years in South Dakota and California but retired to be a stay-at-home mother when the first of their four children was born. The Berreths have 12 grandchildren.
As they said on their Christmas card announcing their 60th anniversary, “We never once thought about, or even considered, divorce. Divorce? Never! Murder? About twice a week!”