Bernice Blakely Austin

Bernice Blakely Austin, of Hardin County, beloved wife of the late Ewell Austin, departed this life in Helena, Alabama, on December 7, 2014. She was 97 years of age at the time of her death.
Bernice grew up on Hall Ridge, one of nine children born to the late Cecil and Lydia (Davis) Blakely. Her father was a schoolteacher, and her mother was a homemaker. She spent her early school years at St. John School, where her father taught, and later attended Cave-In-Rock High School, where she graduated with honors.
After graduating, Bernice dreamed of following in her father’s footsteps and becoming a teacher. She was an avid reader and was naturally curious about almost everything, but especially about nature and the sciences. Although she knew education was her passion, times were hard and attending college was expensive and seemed an impossible goal. But, Bernice had the wit and will to make her dream come true. In addition to receiving a DAR scholarship, she financed her education by working each summer in Detroit, where jobs, at the time, were plentiful, saving as much money as possible, and returning each fall to begin another year at Southern Illinois University. Her hard work and determination were rewarded when she graduated from Southern Illinois University with a teaching degree.
Bernice taught in several schools in Hardin County. Her schools were one-room schoolhouses where she taught students from the first grade through the eighth grade. Teaching in a one-room schoolhouse included other responsibilities as well. Bernice kept the room heated by stoking a coal furnace, and the water bucket filled by an outside pump. Her job was hard and longer than an 8:00 to 4:00 workday, but she never complained. She was working at a job she loved that provided a steady income, which she used, generously, to help her family.
When WWII began, everyone’s focus turned to the war. There was a rush to Detroit where the automobile plants had changed over to making parts needed for the war. Bernice, feeling the need to help with the war effort, put her teaching career on hold and moved to Detroit where she worked as a machinist in a factory making airplane parts. Only after the war ended did she return to her Hardin County home to resume her teaching career.
At the end of the war, the young men of Hardin County began returning home from the service, and the little town of Cave-In-Rock was alive with more activity than it had seen for a while. There were two theaters, a skating rink, and two restaurants, where young people gathered socially. Bernice and her friends would often gather there to renew old friendships with the returning soldiers. It was on one of these occasions, that Bernice caught the eye of Ewell Austin. After a few weeks, it was obvious they were a couple. This was the beginning of a courtship that very soon led to their marriage on August 23, 1947. Their union lasted 51 years.
Jobs were less plentiful after WWII when so many men returned to the workforce and so few opportunities were available in Hardin County. Although Bernice was teaching steadily, Ewell found only occasional, temporary jobs. Not long afterward, their son, Blake, was born in 1949. It was during a visit to Bernice’s sister in Detroit, shortly after his birth, when they saw the opportunities the Detroit area offered. Ewell quickly found work with General Motors and, soon after, Bernice found work as a sixth grade teacher in the Dearborn Heights-D7 school district, and subsequently earning a degree at Wayne State University. Dearborn Heights was to be their home for the next 39 years.
Bernice dedicated herself to teaching the sixth grade in Dearborn Heights, retiring in 1984 as the longest tenured teacher in the school system. She passed on her love of science and the outdoors to her students, organizing fundraisers and taking them on week long camping trips to learn and experience the world of nature. She and Ewell were active in civic organizations and enjoyed square dancing and travelling with a travel trailer club. They both loved to make big gardens on their property near Ann Arbor, Michigan that adjoined the property of Ewell’s sister and her lifelong friend Loree (Austin) Colver and her husband, Pete.
Upon their retirement, they were both eager to get back to Hardin County; the place they always referred to as home. They bought a farm next to the farm where Ewell had grown up, and started to make new friends and renew old friendships. They raised some farm animals, made big gardens and enjoyed visits from their grandchildren. Some of their happiest time were with their grandchildren during Frontier Days in the summer and picnics on Hall Ridge during Thanksgiving. Bernice and Ewell were active in the Masonic Lodge, Eastern Star, Senior Citizens, The Hardin County Historical Society, the Lions’ Club, and participated in other community projects. Retirement in Hardin County gave them happiness and contentment, offering them an opportunity to do the things they enjoyed the most with the people they loved. Bernice lived in Hardin County until the passing of her husband, Ewell, on July 1, 1998. She moved to Helena, Alabama in March 2003, to be near her son, Blake, her daughter-in-law Becky and her three grandchildren.
Bernice had a deep interest in God’s word and an abiding faith. She professed her trust in Christ as her Lord and Savior at Temple Baptist Church in Detroit, and was a faithful member of their congregation. After returning to Hardin County, she attended Mt. Zion Church.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Ewell; her six sisters, Thelma Belt, Tracy Dyer, Mavis Angleton, Eureta DeWitt, Rosalee Austin, and Talapatha Blakely; and one brother, Pete Blakely. She leaves behind her son and daughter-in-law, Blake and Rebecca (Wood) Austin, three grandchildren, Melissa (married to Jerry Smith), Michael, and Meredith (married to Gaines Moorer); three great-grandchildren, Elizabeth Smith, Jackson Smith, and Lillian Moorer; one brother, Ira T. “Spud” Blakely and his wife Doris; and a host of nieces and nephews.
It is hard to say goodbye to those we love. But, sometimes when failing health diminishes the quality of one’s life, death may come as a release. Bernice now rests in peace, and there is no better place to be than in God’s keeping.
“But, as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.’ “1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV
Donations may be made to Mt. Zion General Baptist Church in Cave-In-Rock, Illinois.