Bernice Cripps

UPDATED
Bernice Grace Cripps died May 2, 2012 in Austin, Texas.  She was born June 25, 1925 in Groveland Township near Ortonville, Michigan.  Her parents were LaVerne Halstead and Ethel Glass Halstead.  Bernice is preceded in death by her husband Duane Judson Cripps, her mother and father, her oldest sister Ellen Halstead Kulback and her younger brother LaVerne Halstead, known as Bud.  Mourning their loss are Clara Halstead, her sister who is 90 years old and lives in Fife Lake, Michigan; her children:  Jerome D. Cripps of Rockville, Md.; Nancy Cripps Mossman of Austin, TX, Reed William Cripps II of Little Rock, AR; and Timothy E. Cripps of Hatfield, PA.  She is also mourned by her son-in-law, David Mossman; her daughter-in-law Emily Cripps, married to Reed, and her grandchildren:  Thomas Cripps Mossman, Abby Cripps Boyd and her husband Joshua, Robert D. Mossman, his wife Tashia and their son Ronald Hayes Mossman, Benjamin Todd Cripps, William Alexander ""Alex"" Cripps, Michael E. Cripps and Samuel Roth Cripps.  Her family also includes her sister-in-law Joyce Halstead, widow of Bud, Duaneâ??s brother Robert Cripps and his wife, Nancy, and Otto Maki, who was married to Duaneâ??s sister Josephine, as well as nieces, nephews and cousins. Bernie, as she was known, grew up on a farm her family leased.  She graduated from Ortonville High School and moved to Detroit, MI. to work in a traffic department.  She met Duane, who was a friend of a friend, and they married October 11, 1947.  Duane worked for the Erie Railroad and advanced in the company as a sales and service representative.  They had Jerry and Nancy while they lived in Lincoln Park, a suburb of Detroit.  The family moved to Dallas, Texas in 1955 where Reed and Tim were born.  Duane advanced in his career working in the Dallas office until 1968 when he was transferred to head the office in Jamestown, NY where they lived until 1974, when they moved to Pittsburg, PA.  After four or five years in Pittsburg, they moved to Baltimore, MD, where they stayed until retirement.  Bernice was a stay at home mom, until Reed and Tim were in high school.  She went back to work in the traffic department once again, for about 10 years until she and Duane moved back to Michigan to live in Luzerne, where Duane had been born and raised.  They bought Duaneâ??s parents house on Park Road. In the last year of Duaneâ??s life, he and Bernice bought a trailer home in Florida.  After Duane died November 10, 1994, Bernie continued to live in Florida during the winter for about 10 more years.  She was very active in any community in which she lived.  She took leadership roles in her churches and in service organizations.  She was a role model to her children, especially her daughter, for service and hospitality.  Her ashes will be buried in the Luzerne Cemetery at 10:00 AM, on Saturday, June 9, 2012, followed by a memorial service at 11:00 AM at the Mio United Methodist Church.