Sister Bernice Nofs
1931-2009

Sister Bernice Nofs was an unusual woman. She loved chess, was an excellent player, won several trophies, and also taught it. A writer of beautiful poetry, she was the possessor of a trophy cup in Outstanding Achievement from the International Society of Poets. At the wake, Sister Joan Liberty spoke of how much she appreciated Sister Bernice’s friendship and wisdom. “You could not be a chess master, as she was, and not be very intelligent.”

On June 15, 1931, Leo and Gladys (Angbrandt) Nofs of Port Huron, Michigan, rejoiced in the birth of their third child, a daughter whom they christened Bernice Margaret. They already had two children, Joyce and Leo, and seven more followed Bernice: Virginia, Mark, Josephine, Bernard, Catherine, Mary Agnes, and Angela.

Shortly before his marriage, Leo Nofs had opened a general store, and it became the means of support for his large family. Both parents worked in the store, and the children assisted as they became old enough. Sister Bernice wrote that her father once took his children around to see several slaughterhouses, where they viewed the entire meat processing procedure and learned about the meat that their parents sold in the store.

Bernice must have been a precocious child. She was athletically inclined, and good at games. At St. Joseph Elementary School, taught by the Adrian Dominicans, she was one of the champions at marbles, and played baseball and basketball. In eighth grade she won a trophy in basketball for being the most outstanding player at St. Joseph School.

In her interview with Sister Christa Marsik, she spoke of some of her early escapades. One Sunday her father took her, at the age of three, to the 8:00am Mass at St. Joseph Church. He always prayed with his head lowered, so did not see her climb up on the communion rail. When the priest turned around to intone “Dominus vobiscum” she was up there with him with her arms outstretched. Her father told her mother what had happened, and from that time on she attended 10:00 Mass with her mother. Before she was old enough to go to kindergarten, she would leave the house and walk to the public school with the neighborhood children. This went on for three days. Then the teacher called her mother, who had to go to the school and get her.

When Bernice was in sixth grade and her brother Leo in eighth grade, they took the family car for a “spin.” They kept cranking the accelerator, and maneuvered the car that way for about two blocks, but were not able to turn it around to take it back home. They had to get their father to take the car back. “He did so without punishing or scolding us. He was known for his gentleness.” She and Leo were also involved in another episode. They lived near a train track, crossed over the tracks to the other side of the train (so her parents couldn’t see them) and hopped onto the train. They rode the train to the Roundhouse, looked around, then hopped another train going back. When their parents asked where they were, they said that they were just watching the trains.

Bernice’s high school years were spent at St. Stephen School with the IHM (Immaculate Heart of Mary) Sisters. When graduation time arrived, she was carrying a straight “A” average, but was told that she couldn’t be the valedictorian because that honor was always given to a male student. She was the salutatorian, though the young man who served as valedictorian carried only a “B” average. In her senior year, 1949, she received a trophy for being the most outstanding athlete in the State of Michigan. The trophy was five feet tall.

Within a few weeks of graduation, on June 26, 1949, Bernice entered the postulate in Adrian. When her five-foot trophy arrived, her father brought it to Adrian to show her. She received the habit and her religious name, Sister John Vercelli, on December 27, 1949, and professed her first vows on December 28, 1950. Obviously, nothing untoward happened during those years, as she said nothing about them in her interview.

A short time after profession, she was sent to St. Augustine School in Detroit, where she taught at first in the primary grades, then in the middle grades. In 1953 she was moved to Illinois, where she taught third grade for a year at St. James in Maywood and fifth grade for a year at Bishop Quarter in Oak Park. In 1955 she was assigned to St. Lawrence O’Toole in Oakland, California. Brought back to the Midwest, the next three years were in Ohio, two years at St. Francis Xavier in Medina with sixth graders, and a year at St. John Nepomucene in Cleveland with fifth graders. In July 1956, as a result of summer study, Siena Heights College (now University) in Adrian awarded her a bachelor’s degree with a major in English and minors in biology and German.

In 1962 she was assigned to Santurce, Puerto Rico, where she taught junior high students at Sacred Heart School for four years. Returning to the mainland, she spent a semester at St. Mary in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, then about one-and-a-half years at St. Patrick in Miami Beach. After four months of assisting at the Motherhouse in Adrian, she spent about a year-and-a-half at St. Alphonsus in Dearborn, Michigan, as a junior high teacher, then was assigned to the Motherhouse to assist and study for six months. She had also been studying during the summers, and in May 1969 received a master’s degree in counseling from Siena Heights College.

In 1970 she began two years in Alabama, a year as a graduate student at the Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University in Normal, and a year at Sparkman High School in Toney. She moved to Des Moines, Iowa, in 1972 and served as teacher and counselor at Dowling High School for two years.

In 1974 she became communications representative for the Archdiocese of Detroit, and held this position for three-and-a-half years. She then spent three months as personnel consultant for Sattley Affiliates, Inc., in Warren, Michigan. The following years were in Detroit: as career counselor at Holy Redeemer High School, at St. Theresa-Visitation School, as a counselor at Project Rehabilitation, and resting in a private residence.

In October 1987 she began her ministry in the Southwest, eleven years in Arizona. For some time she served as a dormitory counselor in a Navajo Dormitory in Winslow, and then taught chess for several years at Northland Pioneer College in Holbrook. She retired in 1994 and remained for over three years in Winslow, then moved to Snowflake. In February 1998 she returned to Adrian, and became a resident in the Dominican Life Center/Maria. God took her to eternity on May 27, 2009.

On May 29 a wake-remembrance service was held for Sister Bernice in St. Catherine Chapel. Present were her sisters Virginia Parker, Angela McCullamore, Catherine Aud Miles, and Joyce Driggers; her sister-in-law Marie Nofs; her former student and good friend Matilde Aguirre; and her many Dominican friends. Sister Joan Sustersic, Sister Bernice’s Chapter Prioress, extended sympathy and welcomed those present. She summarized Sister Bernice’s life and ministry, and spoke of her last days.

She has remembrances of many of her former students—letters, pictures, photographs. She was much loved by them. . . . I recall the time that she had been driving around the grounds with someone who took her for a driving test—and she passed. Due to the medications she was taking, it was deemed not safe for her to drive. I explained that to her. It saddened her that she was not able to drive.

Several months ago, Sister Bernice was diagnosed with renal failure. Her decision was not to have treatment or go to the hospital, but to remain here and be kept comfortable. Last week her condition worsened, and she went peacefully to her Lord.

Sister Joan Liberty said:

She was an excellent student and teacher, gifted with humor and warmth in her relationships with others. Of late, many of these beautiful qualities were thwarted because of her illness. When time permitted, we shared ideas. I pay tribute to her generosity as an Adrian Dominican Sister and to her magnificence as a teacher.

Sister Rosemary Asaro, Sister Bernice’s chaplain, shared:

For two or three years a group of sisters provided transportation for her on Thursdays. They were so faithful in taking her to the Mall to play chess and then taking her home. How grateful she was for that kindness. She loved to play chess. When it became difficult for her to get in or out of a car, we had to stop that.

Sharon Magnus, who works in the beauty shop at the Dominican Life Center, sent a testimonial that was read. She wrote in part:

Right after Sister Bernice came to the DLC, she visited the beauty shop. We became good friends from then on. She helped me in the shop by answering the phone and sweeping up the hair. She would read her books in the shop, and she enjoyed the company of the sisters coming and going. Also, she felt useful.

She loved sports, so I took her to a few of my son John’s soccer and basketball games. . . . I had her over for Thanksgiving dinner with all my family. My sons were very kind to her, and she really loved them. Once I took her to Port Huron to visit her sister Mary. She showed me where she used to live. . . . She really wanted to learn to swim. I, along with others, dropped her off at the YMCA. I was always concerned about how she would get changed into her bathing suit and get in and out of the pool, but I guess she managed.

Paul Driggers, Sister’s nephew, also spoke.

When I was growing up, I walked the same halls that Sister Bernice did. She went to the same schools that I went to—St. Joseph and St. Stephen in Port Huron. She always told me that I should be a teacher, but I thought that I would take a different path. She kept writing me letters, though.

When she’d come home for a visit, she’d be in her full regalia. The kids would say to me, “You have a nun for an aunt?” I was really proud that she was my aunt. She did teach me to play chess, but I never beat her.

She wanted me to be a teacher. I’m a teacher now. I know the thrill of being a teacher, and I know that she prayed for me.

Sister Virginia Corley shared remembrances.

Forty years ago I met Sister Bernice when we both taught at St. Alphonsus in Dearborn, Michigan. At the end of that school year she asked if I’d drive with her to the Washington, D.C., area to visit a School Sister of Notre Dame friend and her family. This was my first adventure with Sister Bernice. I never imagined that later I would accompany her to a chess tournament with visually impaired players in Southern Nevada where she officiated. In the last ten years, I was able to drive her to swimming lessons at the YMCA and chess game evenings at the Adrian Mall.

Matilde Aguirre told the assembly an interesting story of her experiences. She is now a CPA, working as a broker associate for RE/MAX Advance Realty in South Miami, Florida.

I met her when I was thirteen years old in 1964 as my seventh grade teacher in Puerto Rico at the Academy of the Sacred Heart. Little did I know then that she would be the one person in my life with the greatest positive impact. Being Cuban-born and separated from my parents at the age of nine to avoid Communist indoctrination after they closed all the Catholic schools in Cuba, I ended up in an orphanage in Indiana. By the time I went to live in Puerto Rico with my brother and my parents, I was an insecure, introverted, unhappy child with many abandonment issues. Sister John Vercelli, OP, in just one year of my life performed the miracles that were the nurturing seeds that have lasted a lifetime. . . . She turned me around from being a borderline student to achieving “A’s” in class. She taught me that I could achieve anything I set my mind on doing and being, and that life was an adventure to enjoy and cherish. That was a very spiritual year for me.

Sister Bernice’s funeral liturgy took place on May 30. Father Roland Calvert, OSFS, was the presider and homilist. Father said in part:

Sister Bernice gave her life to God as an Adrian Dominican many years ago. God was the rock she built her life upon, and was the source of her joy. [Many] have mentioned that Sister Bernice was a superb teacher. . . . Good teaching is very much about love—loving your subject matter but, above all, loving your students. Sister Bernice brought that love to the ministry of education at schools in many states, as well as Puerto Rico.

Last Wednesday I was asked to go over to her room where her friends had gathered. She had just died, and we prayed for the repose of her soul. It seems to have been an extraordinarily peaceful death.

Sister Bernice was two weeks short of her seventy-eighth birthday and in the fifty-ninth year of her religious profession when God took her to join her family and friends in eternity. Her disabilities of mind and body are now gone, and she is at peace.