Bertha (Billie) Julianne (Fuerch) Heisler

Bertha (Billie) Julianne (Fuerch) Heisler, 94, passed away Wednesday, February 17, 2021. She was born in Ellis, Kansas on December 13, 1926 to Joseph and Rose (Schuster) Fuerch and sister to eight siblings.

Billie attended St. Mary’s Parochial School and Ellis High School, graduating in 1945. After high school she attended and graduated nursing school in Denver, Colorado, where she met and married Wally Heisler in 1948. Billie and Wally moved to South Dakota, where their son, Doug, was born in 1950.

They then moved to Denver, Colorado where Diane was born in 1952 and Gail was born in 1956 in Lakewood, California, which was Billie’s home for over 60 years. A favorite saying of hers was “if I’d moved one more time to another state, I would have had another kid!"

She worked for St. Mary’s Hospital in Long Beach, California, for over 20 years, retired and enjoyed her later years with her family and grandchildren. She was always very welcoming and generous, opening her “Heisler Hotel Home” to many out-of-town family members on vacations as well as the ones who “Roomed and Boarded” while they were permanently moving to California and needed a place to call ‘Home” until they got settled. Along with her hospitality, her heart was always wide open for taking care of others, especially her grandchildren, who she loved to babysit, fuss over, take to amusement parks and cook home cooked meals. Some of the adjectives her grandchildren used to describe their grandmother are sassy, sweet, kindhearted, generous, feisty, bigger-than-life, and a tough old bird. At the residential care facility home she lived at for the last two years they called her the blue-eyed beauty spitfire and really enjoyed her spunk.

Billie was preceded in death by her husband of 62 years, Wally Heisler, as well as her siblings: Frank, John, Eddie, Joseph, Robert, Sophie and Helen and is survived by her sister Rosemarie Mattson; her children, Doug (Joan), Diane, Gail (Brian); her grandchildren, Kimberly, Jason, Sarah, Soren, Mette, Tristen, Brian, Dennis, Colleen, Teresa, Jessica and Jennifer; her great grandchildren, Tristen, Christopher, Jamie, Sophie, Savannah, Dylan, Ruby, Vivian, Devin, Ian, Maya, Kai, Beau, Rylan, Ethan and Paige; her great, great grandchildren, Hazel, Londyn, Blakeley, Kenley and Jamison.

A life well lived and lots of memories for her family to cherish.

She’s earned her reward and rejoicing above.

Psalms 116:15
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his godly ones.

Luyben Dilday Mortuary (562) 425-6401