Life Story for Karen Bernhard
Karen Bernhard, beloved educator, and volunteer to many causes, died Saturday, May 28thy, 2022, in Woodside, New York. She was 65 years old and died while surrounded by friends and family.
Karen was born Karen Finnegan in 1957 in New York City to parents Det. Jack Finnegan and Regina Finnegan. She grew up in the Boulevard Gardens Apartments in Woodside with her parents, her surviving sister Nancy Scatena (Ralph Scatena) and surviving brother John Finnegan (Diane Finnegan). It was likely here that Karen’s love of teaching others began to germinate as she taught her sister how to twirl a baton and her brother to swim.
Karen met, and is survived by, the love of her life, Thomas (Tom) Bernhard in 1983. They married in 1985 and have been inseparable for these some 36 years They travelled extensively and volunteered their time generously. The Foundling Hospital, Cancer Research, The Ozone Park Food Pantry, and many, many others were the beneficiaries of her selfless-ness. She somehow found time to graduate Queens College in 2005 with a degree in Sociology. A proud moment for Karen as Tom beamed.
We will all miss Karen’s ability to remember birthdays, and every other holiday, for all her family and friends. No longer will we receive our annual Birthday, Christmas, St Patricks’ Day, Flag Day, Arbor Day, etc. cards in the mail. Hallmark will certainly miss her!
Her nieces and nephews, (Lauren Scatena, John and Kelsey Finnegan, Debbie Lentz, Diana Cross, and Stanley the 3rd) and sister in-law (Linda Cierach nee Bernhard and late brother in-law Arthur Bernhard) loved her unique gift giving at various holidays. A magnet from Karen and Tom’s trip to the Grand Canyon, a key chain from a Civil War battlefield…. every time…every trip. These tchotchkes, I think we have all recently learned, are so much more valuable than the denomination of the inevitable cash in the card. It was the value of her time, and her consideration of others, always, that was her true gift to those kids.
It was her true gift to us all.
Karen was born Karen Finnegan in 1957 in New York City to parents Det. Jack Finnegan and Regina Finnegan. She grew up in the Boulevard Gardens Apartments in Woodside with her parents, her surviving sister Nancy Scatena (Ralph Scatena) and surviving brother John Finnegan (Diane Finnegan). It was likely here that Karen’s love of teaching others began to germinate as she taught her sister how to twirl a baton and her brother to swim.
Karen met, and is survived by, the love of her life, Thomas (Tom) Bernhard in 1983. They married in 1985 and have been inseparable for these some 36 years They travelled extensively and volunteered their time generously. The Foundling Hospital, Cancer Research, The Ozone Park Food Pantry, and many, many others were the beneficiaries of her selfless-ness. She somehow found time to graduate Queens College in 2005 with a degree in Sociology. A proud moment for Karen as Tom beamed.
We will all miss Karen’s ability to remember birthdays, and every other holiday, for all her family and friends. No longer will we receive our annual Birthday, Christmas, St Patricks’ Day, Flag Day, Arbor Day, etc. cards in the mail. Hallmark will certainly miss her!
Her nieces and nephews, (Lauren Scatena, John and Kelsey Finnegan, Debbie Lentz, Diana Cross, and Stanley the 3rd) and sister in-law (Linda Cierach nee Bernhard and late brother in-law Arthur Bernhard) loved her unique gift giving at various holidays. A magnet from Karen and Tom’s trip to the Grand Canyon, a key chain from a Civil War battlefield…. every time…every trip. These tchotchkes, I think we have all recently learned, are so much more valuable than the denomination of the inevitable cash in the card. It was the value of her time, and her consideration of others, always, that was her true gift to those kids.
It was her true gift to us all.