Bertha Winifred Kenniston

Bertha was born in Warren, Maine on June 12, 1903 and was the second child and oldest daughter of Fred and Alice (Kalloch) Kenniston.  She graduated from Warren High School and attended business school in Rockland, where she learned Pitman Shorthand.  For thirteen years, she was secretary to Ralph Wentworth at the Farm Bureau in Warren and later Rockland, Maine.

On December 23, 1923, she married Edward Ludwig, who was employed at the shoe factory in Warren.  A daughter, Mary Annette, was born on December 6, 1925.  The marriage ended in divorce in 1929.  Edward by the way, was the brother of Jennie Ludwig, who married Bertha's older brother, Percy Kenniston.  So, brother and sister married brother and sister.

An avid fisherman and coin collector, Bertha was also involved in many other activities.  She was historian for the Kalloch Family Reunion, financial secretary and treasurer of Warren Baptist Church, and a member of the Lady Knox Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.  I believe she discovered that a "David Kenniston" had been a member of the Boston Tea Party.  She was also an officer in the Field and Garden Club and special projects chairman and historian of the Warren Historical Society.  She received a national award from the Maine League of Historical Societies.

She spent many hours researching and recording all the available data available for the Kalloch, Kenniston,  and Drewett families.  I wonder what she would have accomplished with a computer.  Other writing activities included her work in updating the Annals of Warren, researching "Old Houses of Warren," and (I believe) she co-authored a book about sea captains of Maine.  Bertha, like several of her brothers and sisters, had "the Kenniston heart" and died of congestive heart failure and calcification of the aortic heart valve in January of 1978.

On August 18, 1934, she married Harold Irving Drewett, who was the self-employed owner of Drewett's Garage on Route 1 in Warren and later in Rockland.  They had two grandchildren: Mary Louise and David Rand Swetnam, the children of Mary and Hubert Swetnam.  Harold was the youngest child of Frank and Christine (Lund) Drewett and was born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts on August 29, 1899.  His older brother, Frank, was an international wool merchant.  Grace, the middle child, was married to William S. Jackson.  His father, Frank Drewett, was from England and was the head horticulturist in charge of planting ass the beautiful elm trees that line the wealthy streets of Chestnut Hill and Boston.  He lost his job because of political patronage when the famous James Michael Curley became the Mayor of Boston.  A movie, "The Last Hurrah!", featuring Spencer Tracy, was made of Curley's life.  Harold's mother, Christine Lund, was from Denmark.

Harold later in life, was known as the Dean of Knox County Auto Dealers.  At various times, he had been a Henry J. Kaiser, Nash Rambler, Saab, and international harvester dealer.  He was a 32nd Degree Mason, loved boating and fishing, and was a member of photography clubs.  At one time, he liked to hunt deer, Canadian Geese, and Mallard Ducks.  After looking at the beautiful creatures his bullets had brought down, he said, "Never again!."  He was a heavy smoker and died of lung cancer and emphysema on July 20, 1969, at exactly the same moment that Neil Armstrong was the first man to land on the moon.  He was loved by all his nieces and nephews, who called him "Uncle Hal."

Both Bertha and Harold are buried on the East side of Warren across the dirt road from the cemetery where other members of the Kenniston family are buried.