Bertha Arlina Koskela Harris

Bertha Arlina Koskela Harris, 99, died peacefully at Spring Village at Summerhill Assisted Living on June 15, 2024.

Born on the family farm in Dublin, NH November 2, 1924, Bertha was the eighth child of Otto Richard and Maria Elizabeth (Qvist) Koskela.

Bertha talked fondly of her grammar school days at Dublin Consolidated School. She entered first grade not speaking English since the language spoken at her home was Finnish. In 1937 she won the Abbott H. Thayer Bird Cup, and a year later she received the DCS Citizenship Award.  She lived with the Naglie family on Summer Street while attending Peterborough High School. An outstanding basketball player, she continued to love the sport by following the Boston Celtics, her favorite team. She was a proud graduate of the class of 1943 and remained active in organizing class reunions.

Bertha later worked in the catalog department of the American Guernsey Cattle Club. She met Mason K. Harris in 1944 while he was on leave from the Army. They married in 1945 and resided at the MacDowell Colony for the first four years of their marriage.

As well as being a devoted wife, and mother of six, Bertha was an accomplished baker, and the aroma of Finnish breads was a holiday mainstay. Many teachers at Peterborough Elementary School in the 1960s looked forward to their holiday gift of nisu (pulla) bread. When she could, Bertha created her children’s Halloween costumes and sewed their school clothes. And, just as her own mother had done, she showed her daughters how to knit.

Bertha taught Sunday school at the Union Congregational Church and kept the books at the family businesses of Harris Construction Co. Inc., Harris Oil Co., and Valley Redi-Mix. She volunteered at the Food Pantry. Competent and confident in speaking her mind, she remained a fierce defender of frugality while serving on the Peterborough Budget Committee. She was quick to laugh, to lend a hand, and to look through the many books in her library, especially those about Finland, birds, town history and WWII.

After Mason’s death in 2015, Bertha moved to Spring Village at Summerhill Assisted Living. Bertha is survived by her five daughters and one son: Cathy Field and her husband, David, of St. Petersburg, FL; Ann Moller and her husband, Ken, of Hancock, NH; Jean Harris of Peterborough, NH; Kay Balionis and her husband, Gary, of Wolfeboro, NH; Donna Harris of Peterborough, NH; and Mason K. “Skip” Harris, Jr. and his wife, Yvonne, of Shelbyville, KY. She also leaves five grandsons and one granddaughter: Andresen Moller and Jed Moller; Tobin Green and his wife, Kate Jennings; Alexander Balionis, Benjamin Balionis, and Julia Balionis and her husband, Matthew Irwin. In addition, she leaves three great-grandchildren: Renier Moller, Ryder Moller, and Grace Green.

Preceded in death were her siblings: Otto William Koskela (died in infancy), Arthur Koskela, Helen Kernozicky, Helen’s twin brother (died in infancy), Ruth Morris, Ida Lewandowski, Lucia Sirois, and Otto Adrian Koskela.

The family wishes to express their deep appreciation and heartfelt thanks to Bertha’s exceptional caregivers at Summerhill who kept her happy, engaged and well-fed every day. We also thank the Hospice nurses and aides for their steady support and guidance.

A Finnish Coffee Hour, a kakkukahvi replete with Bertha’s signature nisu, will be held in her honor on Sunday, July 14 from 1-3p in Bass Hall at the Monadnock Center for History and Culture, 19 Grove Street, Peterborough, NH.

Arrangements are with Jellison Funeral Home for a private burial at a later date.

In remembrance of Bertha, please consider a contribution in her name to Cheney Armstrong Post, P O Box 172, Peterborough, NH 03458, or to Hospice at HCS, P O Box 564, 312 Marlboro Street, Keene, NH 03431.