Bertha Mae Lillenas

Lillenas, Bertha Mae (nee Wilson). (?--1945). First wife of Haldor Lillenas, mother of their two children. Ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene. Evangelist, singer, and composer, as well as artist at the piano. Deets Pacific Bible College, Los Angeles (later Pasadena College). With her husband, pastored churches at Lompoc and Pomona, California; Auburn, Illinois; Peniel, Texas; Redlands, Calif.; and Indianapolis, Indiana. She often preached.

She had a gift for writing songs easy to sing on powerful gospel themes. Since she was a contralto, she wrote most numbers in a low key. The text of "Jesus Took My Burden" (Johnson Oatman) was sent to Haldor Lillenas to be set to music, but the musical setting he wrote visited virtually all publishers of the day without success. After it lay in his file of unpublished music for 13 years, he took it to Bertha Mae, whose melody was immediately accepted and sung widely by Homer Rodeheaver.

--E. Roger Taylor, DNAH Archives, edited for clarity