The Last Dance

About the Book

When Harold, (Hal) Lemke ended his own life on October 25, 1992, after suffering unimaginable trauma and pain for the preceding five years, he broke the law. His punishment had already been paid in time and blood money. His wife, Berta, struggled to understand and maintain her personal connection to their relationship – their love for one another. This “Memoir” provides guidelines for those who are caretakers during the final illness and “caring” survivors afterward. It offers help to maintain hope where there is despair, faith in place of doubt, and light to subdue the darkness.

About the Author

Berta Lemke became Berta James following her period of recovery and grieving her husband’s horrific death. “Love is not something we get,” she says openly. “It comes from within and is primarily there to give away. My twenty-two year marriage to Hal allowed me to see the beauty that is found in loving another. Discovering it again was a bonus for which I feel unbounded gratitude.” James is the author of uncounted articles on education (she was a teacher for over thirty-five years), A Handbook for Beginning Teachers, BEING REAL, (Fearon-Pitman Publishers. Inc.), a novel, SARAH, The 4th Wife, (Xlibris), and many children’s books. She and her husband, Bill, live in Farmington, Utah