Bernice Mary (Wagner) Burak

Bernice Mary Burak, passed away peacefully on November 19, 2024 at the age of 94.

Bernice was born September 2nd, 1930 in Elkton Michigan on her grandparents farm. As the youngest of four, she loved being the baby of the family. Time on the farm were some of her favorite memories, tending to the horses, cows, and chickens, and playing outside with the neighborhood children. She was a tomboy, playing battle outside with the boys, and jumping so much rope that she was forced to give it up and ration shoes during World War II.

As a young woman, Bernice was fiercely independent and a hard worker. She worked for Michigan Bell as a telephone operator and helped to save a little boy's life when she connected the hospital to poison control so his doctors could give him an antidote. She never had a mind for love or boys though. She often told the story of how she met her husband at a party and didn't even like him at first. She found him too forward when he asked her to dance and didn't like that he seemed to show up everywhere she went. But he persisted and they were married, built a house together, and had three children, who were the joy of her life.

Bernice loved going to church, traveling, taking pictures, collecting beautiful items, and most all of all, she loved family. She loved hosting holidays and parties so her family could be together. She was truly the embodiment of love and kindness and her family felt this in her laugh, her smile, and her tender hugs. Her smile and laugh were the most contagious thing on the planet. No one could leave her house until she got the chance to wrap her arms around you. She would give you a big squeeze and she loved to shake you around a bit while she was still holding you just to put a smile on your face before you left.

While her friends and family will miss her, we know Bernice is smiling down on us from her family reunion in heaven and telling us all that she loves us all “a bushel and a peck”.

Bernice is survived by her three children; Henry, Trudy, and Tony; her six grandchildren, Zachary, Caitlin, Matthew, Thomas, Amber, and Andrew; and her three great grandchildren, Lily, Oliver, and Sebastian.

A few years ago for Christmas, Caitlin got her  grandma this little book with prompts that I could ask her so I could learn more about who she was as a person and about her life. The book asked questions about lighter things about a person’s life like childhood hobbies, early careers, favorite books and movies, but also about deeper aspects of a person’s life, like their proudest moments, times they wished they could go back to, just to experience it again, and what it was like to be a mother. Here are some of the things I learned about my grandmother that I wanted to share:

She missed being the baby of the family. She missed feeling protected by her older siblings, being able to cuddle up in bed with her older sister when she had a nightmare. She got her working permit at 17 to join Michigan Bell as a telephone operator, she failed the spelling test the first time she took it but they hired her anyway because they said she “had a smile in her voice”. She never learned to swim. She never thought she would marry. She thought she would raise sheep dogs for the blind and she was so worried about becoming a new mother when she gave birth to Henry that she made her own mother give him his first bath. Christmas was her favorite holiday, she loved it so much that her husband checked himself out of the hospital one year just to be with her. She said that she was happiest when she was with her family and that the words she would tell people to live by are, “Live life to the fullest”.  The last page in the book asks, what is your lasting wish? She said, “I don't want people to cry when I'm gone. I want them to be happy. I lived a beautiful and blessed life and I want them to have that too.”

Visitation will be held on Monday, November 25 from 11-3pm at Temrowski Family Funeral Home 500 Main St., Fenton, MI 48430. There is not a funeral service so please visit between the hours of 11-3pm.

To send flowers to the family, please visit our floral store.