Bertha Luella Carnako

Bertha Luella Carnako née Ferrenburg, 90 years old, of Albuquerque, New Mexico passed away peacefully on February 22, 2026 in Dayton, Ohio. Bertha was born on January 7, 1936 in Indianapolis, Indiana, the daughter of Ernest W. Ferrenburg and Bessie May Banta. She was raised on a family farm in Jennings County near Tannersville and attended elementary school in Scipio. The oldest of seven, her life on the farm wasn’t easy and at age 14 she was taken in by Roy and Virginia “Jennie” McQueen, who ran a diner in Columbus, Indiana. In Columbus, Bertha attended high school until her junior year, when she decided to head out on her own. She moved to Indianapolis, got a job in a diner, Downey Dunker, famous for their iced cake donuts, where she worked up until she joined the Marines in January of 1954.

Bertha was 18 when she joined the Marines. She went through Boot Camp at Parris Island, South Carolina and was assigned to a supply unit at a Marine Corps base at Portsmouth near Norfolk, Virginia. There she met her first husband, Grover Browe, who was from Carmel by the Sea, California. They had two children together, Doris, who only lived a few days in January of 1957 and Jerry Wallace, who was born in Carmel by the Sea, in 1958. After her divorce from Grover in 1959, Bertha took a job at a diner in Monterey, California called Dee’s Place that was just outside the gate of the Defense Language Institute. There she met a young marine, George Carnako, who was a frequent customer at the diner. The two were married in August of 1959. They would spend the next 18 years traveling around the world, having 3 more children, Catherine Theresa, Alexander and Gail Ellen, until George retired from the US Marine corps in 1977.

The family then moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, bought a home and spent the next 38 years living together there until George’s death in February of 2015. During that time Bertha took a job as a bookkeeper at the Standard Truck Plaza, where she worked until she retired in 1998. After George’s death, she continued to live in the family home in Albuquerque. She was a member of the German Club and enjoyed baking and reading. In 2023, due to failing health, Bertha, sold the family home and moved in with daughter and daughter-in-law, Gail and Darden, in Kettering, Ohio, where she lived until her death. She enjoyed playing Bingo at the Senior Center each Wednesday and had many wonderful friends there.

Bertha was preceded in death by her husband, George, and her son Jerry Wallace (Shannon). She is survived by two daughters, Gail Ellen (Darden) and Catherine Theresa and a son, Alexander (Maria) as well as four grandchildren, Markayla, Jeremy, Kristopher and Britni and many great grandchildren.

The family plans to inter the ashes of Bertha, and her beloved husband George, in Dayton National Cemetery at a future date TBD. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Ohio’s Hospice/Dayton or the Salvation Army in Bertha’s memory. To share a memory of Bertha or leave a special message for her family, please visit the Guestbook below.