Bernice Elizabeth Klein Bernice Klein was born on April 23, 1920 in Bancroft, Nebraska and peacefully passed away on February 21, 2012 surrounded by her 5 children, their spouses, and many grandchildren and great-grand-children. Bernice touched the lives of many and will be missed by all who knew her. Bernice spent her childhood on a farm outside of Bancroft, Nebraska. Her parents, Frank Buchholz and Bertha Munderloh Buchholz raised her and her brother Clarence and sisters Leona and Pearl with a strong Christian values. Bernice clearly remembers the challenges of growing up with no electricity or indoor plumbing in the 1920’s and the devastation of the Great Depression and “dust bowl” drought of the 1930’s and its effect on farming. Upon graduation from Bancroft High School in 1938, she attended 2 years of college at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, before moving to San Francisco, CA. It was there that she met her husband, Louis Earl Klein and they were married January 4, 1944. After living in SF for several years, Louis and Bernice bought a new home in 1952 in South San Francisco where they raised their 5 children. Bernice lived in this home for 56 years until 2008, after which she was watched over by Bob and Lynne in Roseville, CA, and for the last 18 months allowed Don and Janet to enjoy the joy of her company in San Juan Capistrano, CA. Bernice long ago became the family historian and her photographic memory for events and dates, along with her razor sharp mind (present until the day she passed) made her the “go-to” person for not only family history but of major global events of the last 90 years. Besides the interesting stories of her youth in the 1920’s and 30’s, Bernice has regularly shared her memories of everything from FDR and his programs, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the fear of living through the nightly blackouts and air raid alarms in San Francisco, the rationing during WWII, the end of the war when her husband returned from the Pacific, and the post-war years. She also clearly recalls the major events and the rapid change of the 50’s and 60’s including the JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations, our trip to Disneyland in 1957, dozens of family camping trips including to Yellowstone (feeding the bears!), Yosemite (the nightly Firefalls), and giant redwoods. Beginning with their move to SF in 1958, Bernice became a life-long Giants baseball fan and regularly listened to the radio broadcasts of Giant games. She was able to attend her first game in 1962 and saw her idol Willie Mays catch a fly ball right in front of her in right-center field. She waited 52 years but finally was able to celebrate the SF Giants winning their first world series in 2010. Bernice raised her family much like she was raised – sending the kids off to Sunday School every week and making sure they went to confirmation classes on Saturdays and church on Sundays. She was active in the church, at Saint Thomas Lutheran Church in San Bruno from the mid-1950’s for nearly 50 years. Bernice loved to read, both novels and the daily newspaper to keep up on current events. She kept her mind sharp and even at the age of 91 would beat her grandkids at word games. Her husband Louis Earl, and grandson, Patrick Klein, predeceased her.