Obituary for Penney Carol Bernier

If you are reading this, I've recently left the physical world, after 82 great years. As I write this, the overwhelming emotion is one of gratitude, for my 58 years with my husband, David, for my children, for my friends, and for my faith.

I was born on January 7th, 1943 in St Louis Park, Minnesota, to wonderful parents. I had one sister and three brothers. My father, Red Anderson, was a former professional athlete, and we were raised with lots of sports and a healthy sense of competition. I was less athletic than my siblings, but did have a knack for hitting a softball very, very far. My mother was the household boss, and raised us all well.

After I graduated from Hopkins High School, I attended the University of Minnesota for a very short stint. David asked me to marry him in 1961, and the rest is history. David was the love of my life, and it was never boring. Within 5 years, and at the age of 24, I had four children under the age of three. I loved the years raising Jill, Julie, Peter and Karen. I was really suited to being a homemaker.

Pivotal life moments:
-As the kids grew up, my friend and I decided to open a retail store called Mayan Merchants, which was open for over 20 years. I had not experienced much diversity at this point in my life, and Calhoun Square introduced me to many different types of people. Meeting and befriending people different from me broadened my horizons greatly, and I started seeing things with an open mind. One of my close merchant friends was an early AIDS victim, and it had a big impact on me and my life view.

-We are so proud of our children. Our kids provided unbelievable joy, and have provided so much support in recent years. We were so busy when we were raising our kids, and with our grandchildren, we took the time to really smell the roses. There are 11 in total, and my favorite grandchild is the one I am with at any given time. They are so special to me and so different from each other. They have given me so much love and happiness over the years, and are all positioned to make a special mark on the world.

-Travel has been a highlight for me, and was another perspective broadening experience. In the beginning, it was relaxing beach vacations or trips to visit friends. We moved on to adventure travel, including places like China, Vietnam, Turkey, Galapagos, France, Italy and Scotland. One of the best experiences that I have had was hearing the calls to prayer multiple times each day in Turkey. It is a Muslim call to prayer but it called me also.

-Friendships have been so important to me. There have always been great people by my side, because of the holy spirit. My big sister, Gail was always there for me, in childhood and to this day. I was so lucky to have had her as my sister. In eighth grade, I moved to Hopkins high school. On the first day of school, a good Samaritan invited me, the new girl, to join their group for lunch. This group of girls are still great friends to me today, 70 years later. I cherish my St Thomas community, my book group, Faith Formation and Pizza Group, all of which have provided years of friendship, laughter, faith and camaraderie.

-We lived in our Linden Hills home for 45 years, and loved our neighborhood and church community. As the kids got older, I started volunteering more broadly. Some of the moments considered most meaningful to me include helping families equip their houses when they moved into housing projects, holding babies at a family crisis center, and welcoming so many new families to our church community. I probably benefited more than the people I was helping, given the satisfaction and fulfillment that this work gave to me.

In closing, I have been a very lucky lady and trust in the holy spirit. My faith has carried me through and because of my faith I have no fears as I depart the physical world. If I had a chance to do it all again, I don't think that I would change a thing.