Leadership

Alberta Anders, Secretary/Treasurer

Sprouted in the Ozarks in 1936 in western McDonald County, and proud of it.
At a time when America was taking for granted things like automobiles, electricity and plumbing inside the home, I started my life – in the Klondike area, free of those conveniences. The buzzing of the bees around Grandma’s flower garden was the only disturbance to a bucolic atmosphere. We carried water from the spring and drew water out of a well on warsh-day.

I feel fortunate to have had such a simple, if hard, beginning. Before I really had to share in the primitive labors, my family moved to California, where I finished school and, in a day when it was rare for women, worked for the San Jose Police Department. After 20 years in that field, I felt fortunate to be able to return to my heart’s home, Anderson, Missouri. There I bought my home, a log house in the middle of 20 acres of timber, and hired on at a small advertiser known as The Big Nickel where I spent the next 13 years, resigning as bookkeeper/Office Manager. I became a paid volunteer with V.I.S.T.A. (funded by Americorps) at Crowder College in Neosho. We worked with the foreign born students (STRIDE ESL, for those to whom English is a second language) in a literacy program. After 2 years there, I accepted another paid volunteer position with Community 2000, again, a part of the Americorps, whose goal was to reduce tobacco use in our youth. At the same time, my sister and I activated a program of our own, known as Homespun Education, providing improved reading skills for anyone needing them, including those incarcerated. I am, at this time, Tax Collector for the City of Pineville, and work part-time as Deputy Recorder for McDonald County.

I have served as Secretary for United Way, for the Republican Club, and currently serve as treasurer for MADD.

My family has lived in this area for four generations. My mother’s grandfather, William Riley Spears was my earliest ancestor in this area, coming from Arkansas where his Cherokee mother was part of our history, dwelling in Indian Territory. My family has two rather dubious claims to fame: one of Belle Starr’s lovers shot and killed my father’s grandfather (G. W. Anders) in the Fort Smith, Arkansas area, an account somewhat redeemed by the fact that my cousin, Earl Spears, was one of the more respected and beloved Sheriffs of McDonald County in the 1900s..

Never married, I live on the banks of Big Sugar, in the heart of Pineville, County Seat of McDonald County, Missouri. While I have not given birth to any children, I am “Aunt Berta” to 12 nieces and nephews who, with their families, have my heart.

Local history fascinates me. The McDonald County Historical Society will, hopefully, be the vehicle affording others the opportunity to learn about and take pride in the drama that is part of their American Heritage.