Bernadette Gersh's Obituary
In lieu of flowers, please visit the adaptive physical education contact page at https://adaptivepevmsc.org/contact.php to donate in memory of Bernadette.
Bernadette Gersh, 60, of Redwood City, CA, passed away peacefully at home on February 5th, 2023 after an almost 8 year courageous battle with her glioblastoma brain tumor.
Beloved by many, Bernadette is survived by her husband Mark of 34 years, her daughter Jordan and son-in-law Ethan Perret of VA, her sister Nadene Johnson of Pittsburgh, PA, mother Evelyn Hrabak of Perryopolis, PA and many dear friends & colleagues.
Bernadette was a coal miner’s daughter, born in western Pennsylvania. She spent two years at Seton Hill University before leaving the state for the first time in her life in order to finish college and graduated from Catholic University with a BS in Nursing in 1984. She entered the US Air Force as a nurse, eventually rising to the rank of Lt Col. Her career included many active duty and reserve officer assignments, serving domestically at various locations and overseas for Desert Storm. Professionally, she pursued her Masters of Education at University of MD and became a pediatric nurse practitioner specialist. During her civilian career, Bernadette provided nursing care to a variety of patient populations, from the inner city of Washington, DC working in a private practice to the many cultures of Silicon Valley working for Kaiser Permanente.
World traveller, foodie, wine lover, Sharks hockey & Stanford woman’s basketball fanatic, and Mark’s life-long companion, Bernadette was a loving and caring soul with an outlook to life guided by her and Mark’s song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. She was also a fierce advocate to those issues she held great passion. From breastfeeding, the rights of her patients, ADA rights for the mobility challenged, her daughter’s arthritis and dyslexia, to cancer survivorship she lived life with a zeal to take on all experiences with her mantra that “calm seas do not a sailor make!”
Bernadette’s family and friends will be celebrating her life with a memorial service, burial with military honors, and reception on Friday, May 5th at the Skylawn Memorial Park in San Mateo. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in her name to the Redwood City Veterans Memorial Senior Center’s Adaptive Physical Education organization which played such an instrumental role in her life.
In lieu of flowers, please visit the adaptive physical education contact page at https://adaptivepevmsc.org/contact.php to donate in memory of Bernadette.
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