Kathryn (Kitty) Davenport Bernard

Kathryn (Kitty) Davenport Bernard passed away on Sunday, March 18, 2024. Kitty was born on December 3, 1937, just after her twin sister, Beth, in Caracas, Venezuela.

After attending Emma Willard School and Wellesley College (where she majored in Zoology), she moved to NYC and received a MA in teaching from Bank Street College of Education and subsequently taught in the NYC public schools and at the Grace Church School. While at Wellesley College, she met a young sailor named Peter Bernard and they were married in 1960. Kitty & Peter built a fun-filled life in Greenwich Village, NYC before moving to New Jersey and having three daughters, Tricia in 1963 and Nancy & Gail in 1967.

Kitty was a party planner, a scout leader, a dedicated volunteer, a master mover and always a loyal friend. She was pleasantly direct and possessed an enviable joy for life.

After Peter’s retirement, Kitty planned travels around the country and the world, including a “grand journey” boat trip up the Mississippi River in their 36ft trawler. She loved visiting Tricia’s family in Spain where she would surprise locals with her flawless Spanish. She built communities of friends in the places she lived: Maplewood, NJ, Skillman, NJ, Oxford, Maryland, Vero Beach, Florida and Matthews, NC. Kitty will be hugely missed by her three daughters, seven grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Like our recently passed father Peter, Kitty decided to donate her brain and spinal cord to help advance the research in Bulbar ALS. Donations in her memory can be made to the Brain Support Network  https://brainsupportnetwork.org/

Online condolences may be made at www.gordonfuneralservice.com.

Gordon Funeral Service and Crematory, 1904 Lancaster Ave., Monroe, NC 28112 is honored to be entrusted to care for the Bernard Family.