Reflection / John Shaughnessy
Celebrating the life and the spirit of Bernadette “Bernie” Price
Bernie Price flashes a two thumps-up sign, reflecting how her cancer diagnosis hasn’t diminished her joyful approach to life and her dedication to the archdiocese’s Catholic Youth Organization, which she has served for 51 years. (Photo by John Shaughnessy)
It’s almost impossible to capture the relentlessly positive approach to life of Bernadette “Bernie” Price in one image or scene, but let’s start with this one.
It happened just minutes after a championship game in the archdiocese’s Catholic Youth Organization (CYO). The two volleyball teams had just finished a
well-played, intense championship match that had left one group of seventh- and eighth-grade girls beaming and jumping in joy while the other team slumped off the court, with some of the girls crying.
Amid these polar opposite emotions, Bernie gathered the two teams together in her official role as the CYO’s director of girls’ athletics. She was there to present trophies to the two teams, and she had always lived for this moment during her 51 years of joyous, give-everything-you-have dedication to serving the CYO and the children and youths of the archdiocese.
After she brought the teams together, Bernie privately told them how proud she was of their efforts during the game and the season. Then she had them turn around and look at everyone in the stands because she wanted the fans “to see how great these kids are.”
When the girls did, Bernie’s voice rose. With no need of a microphone, she roared, “If anyone wants their money back, you’re not going to get it because you’ve gotten your money’s worth and more.” And her eyes turned again to the girls on both teams.
“When you make it this far and you work that hard, there are no losers for me.”
For those who got to know, share with, work with and laugh with Bernie, there is a deep sense of loss for someone who always strived during her 73 years of life to make the world better, to make friendships deeper, to love in a way that was fearless, forgiving and ever embracing.
Still the reality is that Bernie would want everyone whose life she touched to focus on the gift and the joy of their time together—not on her passing after her two-year battle with cancer ended on Nov. 27.
That life-affirming approach was evident in the way she made friends and touched lives at Franciscan Health Indianapolis, the setting of her surgeries and treatments for cancer.
A good friend of Bernie’s, Joan Himebrook, works in the cancer center at Franciscan and she marveled at the attitude that Bernie had in facing her treatments.
“She’s walking in here with cancer, and she brightens everybody’s day,” Himebrook said back in September. “As she’s walking back for her infusion, she will say, ‘I am so excited to come here and get this today. I’m so excited I get to fight my cancer.’ ”
Bernie displayed that same relentlessly positive attitude when, at 63, she led a high school youth group from Good Shepherd Parish in Indianapolis into a pitch-black cavern in Kentucky. The group had gone there for an adventure that was supposed to include zip-lining through the cavern—90 feet above the cavern floor.
Looking into the minimally-lit black void ahead and below, the teenagers weren’t exactly pressing forward to be the first to go hurtling into the abyss. A few even asked, in shaky voices, “Are we going to do this?” To which Bernie responded, “I’m going first. Watch me. I can do this. You can do this!”
And then she was off.
“It was heart-racing,” she recalled. “There was a lot of adrenaline and a lot of fun. And everybody ended up doing it. I love that age group because I can still run with them.”
The hope and the belief today are that Bernie is running and holding hands with her husband and the love of her life, Jack Price, who died on Christmas Eve in 2011.
The hope and the belief are also that she is continuing, in person, a conversation with God that she had during her fight with cancer.
“At one point, I remember saying to myself, ‘God put this on you. I’m glad he didn’t put it on someone who couldn’t handle it.’ That’s been my attitude,” she said on a morning two months ago. “I talk to God quite a bit. I talk about everything. I thank him for watching over me.
“I do special prayers every evening. I’m praying for everything. I pray a lot for the young people, that they have good mentors, and they can continue on in a great world. I pray for all the people who have cancer and their families or people who are just dealing with problems.”
On that morning, her eyes also sparkled and her smile grew wide as she shared the joy and the gift of her life.
“You make a lot of friends over the years. You touch a lot of lives. That’s what keeps you going.”
Do what you can to keep that spirit alive.
(John Shaughnessy is the assistant editor of The Criterion.) †
