Landes became the first woman to serve as Moderator of Washington's Conference of Congregational and Christian Churches and was also elected national president of the
Soroptimists, a professional women's organization. She wrote many articles for national publications, often urging women to enter politics, their "natural sphere." Henry contracted bronchitis on a trip to China in June 1936, which developed into pneumonia, leading to his death in Seattle on August 23, 1936, at the age of 68. At the time of Henry's loss, Bertha wrote that he was "pleased and willing to have me try my wings" and that he was her "tower of strength in times of stress, and made many sacrifices without complaint that I might give my time and strength to my civic service." She added, "Life was to be lived to the fullest, always on a partnership basis and a definite sharing of different special interests. It was so lived for 40 years until the summons came for one of us, and now I have to face life and its problems alone." Following his death, Bertha agreed to lead the tour alone in 1937. She continued her travels in 1938 aboard the ship
SS Monterey, with stops in Honolulu, Pago Pago, Auckland, Sydney, and Melbourne. During the late 1930s, Bertha began to reduce her level of civic activism. She gave fewer public speeches, focusing instead on smaller appearances and on lending endorsements and assistance to community causes such as Seattle's Women's City Club Chorus, as well as fundraising for groups like the League of Women Voters. Her health began to decline. In her private life she turned away from the traditional religious practices of the
Congregational Church, of which she and Henry had been members since the late 1890s, joining instead the
Unity School of Christianity. Bertha continued to live independently at the Wilsonian Hotel in Seattle's University District until 1941, when she moved to
Pacific Palisades, California, in hopes that the warmer climate would improve her health. ==Death and burial==