Final care arrangements for this memorable businesswoman in the Jackson Square neighborhood will consist of a service for family members having tickets Saturday, September 5, 2020, 11:30 a. m. in the chapel of the Winnfield Memorial Funeral Home, 318 North Street, Natchitoches, LA 71457.

Friends of the family may greet them at the funeral home from 10:00 a. m. until service time.

Interment will follow in the St. Paul Baptist Church Cemetery in the Bermuda Community.

COVID19 regulations will govern all service and every person who enters the funeral home must wear a facial mask.

"Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates." Proverbs 31:31

Sister Bertha Lee Howard Wardworth was called home, peacefully in her sleep, Monday, August 31, 2020. She was born January 12, 1937 in Cloutierville, Louisiana to the late Ellis Howard, Sr. and Joeller Roberson Howard. She confessed to Christ at 11 years old and was baptized by Rev. Carter at the St. Davis Baptist Church in Cloutierville, Louisiana, where she remained an active and faithful member. She also served as a faithful deaconess at St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church. She graduated from St. Matthew High School in 1955, in Melrose, Louisiana.

In 1960, she married the late Lonnie B. Wardworth. Lonnie had started Wardworth Grocery #1 on Genti St. in Natchitoches, in 1955, after he graduated high school. His mother, Izimma Wardworth took over Wardworth Grocery #1 until she retired in 1990. Bertha and Lonnie opened Wardworth Grocery #2 on November 18, 1968 at 322 Hedges St. in Natchitoches, Louisiana. They later opened Wardworth Grocery #3 in 1985 in Breda Town in Natchitoches and closed it in 1989. After her husband's passing, she continued to manage the store on Hedges St. and gracefully served the community throughout the years.

She was in the National Register's Who's Who in Executives and Professionals 2004 Edition as a business owner of Wardworth Grocery. She received a Certificate of Achievement Award for being in business for 50 years, from 1955 to 2005 on behalf of her husband Lonnie B. Wardworth.

She was preceded in death by her mother, Joeller Howard, father, Ellis Howard, Sr., motherin-law, Izimma Wardworth, husband, Lonnie B. Wardworth, and her brother, Ellis "Sonny Boy" Howard, Jr.

She leaves to cherish her memories, step-son, Gary Wardworth, Sr. and his wife, Debbie Wardworth, both of Spencer, Oklahoma; step-daughter, Dorcus Wardworth Godfrey, and her husband, Eugene Godfrey, both of Stonewall, Louisiana; seven grandchildren, Gary Wardworth, Jr. (Nicolette), Jonathan Wardworth (Judith), Elliott Wardworth, Elizabeth Wardworth King (Bobby), all of Spencer, Oklahoma, Darryl Godfrey (Ashanti), of Natchitoches, Louisiana, Eric Godfrey, of Shreveport, Louisiana, Gena Godfrey Allen (Chris), of Shreveport, Louisiana; seventeen great-grandchildren; three nieces; Priscilla Hayward, of Alexandria, Louisiana, Agnes Wafer, of Shreveport, Louisiana, Joyce Durham, of Houston, Texas; other relatives, friends, the St Davis Baptist Church Family, and the St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church Family