Catholic Diocese Tucson

6 CATHOLIC OUTLOOK JANUARY 2020 Therese Berg: 100 years old, faithful and llnesses and hardship are no match for Berg’s spirit and generosity By MICHAEL BROWN Managing Editor On Dec. 30, Therese Berg turned 100 years old and there seems to be nothing capable of slowing her down. Two years ago, she broke her elbow in a fall. It healed. Three years ago, she fell down some stairs and had a hinged plate put in her knee. She recovered. At age 91, she was hit by a truck. “I was a terrible mess,” Berg re- called, noting the extent of the inju- ries she overcame. Berg still drives herself to the grocery store, church and the pool at Reid Park, where she swims every day. “I say my prayers and I want to get well,” she explained. “I like it here, so I want to stay.” Berg comes from pioneer stock, including Carlos Velasco, who emigrated from Mexico in the 19th century and operated the Spanish- language newspaper El Fronterizo for 37 years, and Hiram Stevens, a Catholic who represented the Arizona territory in Congress. She grew up in the shadow of Tucson’s Armory Park, and fondly remembered walking with her father Charles Velasco to Consolidated Bank, then on “the southwest corner of Stone and Congress” to open a savings account in the 1920s. “He would pick me up and sit me on the counter,” Berg recalled. “They explained to me how my money could make more money.” If she earned 10 cents, she would spend five and deposit five. “It was my dad who taught me how to save and make more.” Over the years, that strategy had served Berg and the Tucson com- munity well. She accrued wealth and established funds to support numerous charitable organizations, ranging from Catholic Community Services to the University of Arizona and Salpointe Catholic High School. Other groups she’s supported include the Pima Council on Aging, Arizona Public Media and the Sonoran Insti- tute. Berg’s sunny disposition and re- markable memory mask the personal tragedies she encountered throughout her life. At age 3, during a trip to Califor- nia, she inexplicably fell deathly ill. Travelling home by train, Berg was rushed to her doctor and diagnosed with polio. While quick treatment saved her life, it left her with a right leg that was several inches smaller than her left. Four years later, while working at her father’s gas station, she met a local Shriner who arranged for her to have treatment at the group’s surgi- cal center in California. After two years on a waiting list, Berg and her parents drove to San Francisco for surgery that lengthened the Achilles tendon in her affected leg. Although her parents had to return to Tucson, Berg spent three months at the facil- ity while healing, eventually leaving with a heavy brace to help support the limb. Undaunted, Berg began a love af- fair with the water, teaching herself how to swim – brace included – at a local pool. Two years later, she returned to Shriners for more surgery and two months’ recovery. It eventually freed her from the brace, a life-changing difference that became immediately apparent when she stepped into the pool. “I felt as light as a feather,” she said. She attended St. Joseph Acad- emy, founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, and later run by the Immaculate Heart Sisters. She graduated from Tucson High School in 1937 and enrolled at the Univer- sity of Arizona to pursue a business degree. As a junior, she switched her major to teaching. The added curricu- lum only cost her an extra semester, and she completed her studies in January of 1942. At the time, a school official from Globe came to Tucson to recruit teachers, offering to pay $100 per month. Berg asked what it cost to live in Globe, and the answer -$75 a month – didn’t impress her. She told the official she needed to think about it and talked to her dad that evening. “My dad said, ‘If you don’t think it’s right, don’t do it,’” she recalled. “I just didn’t want to go there and not have any money.” The official was surprised and disappointed when she declined the offer the next day, but Berg was unflappable. A short time later, she received an offer from the US government, the result of a civil service exam she had taken during the previous fall semester. “It was for a position at Fort Hua- chuca, making twice as much,” she said. After a few years, she was asked to take an assignment in Alaska, to as- sist in the construction of the Alaska Highway, a contiguous thoroughfare connecting the lower 48 states to Alaska, starting in Dawson Creek, British Columbia. The Tucson native knew she was no match for the cold, so after tak- ing a temporary position at the fort, she took a job at Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corp., which operated a site currently occupied by Raytheon. Photo courtesy of the Arizona Historical Society Tucson look different when young Therese Velasco was growing up in the 1920 and ’30s. Above is the Consolidated National Bank of Tucson lobby in the 1930s, where she opened her first savings account. The building opened in 1929 and was the city’s tallest building. Valley Bank and Trust of Phoenix bought Consolidated to form Valley National Bank of Arizona. At right is the location of the future Santa Cruz Church, under construction in 1918, just one year before Therese’s birth in 1919. Photo from Boston Children’s Hospital Archive Photo courtesy of Arizona Daily Star