Bernice Everitt

Weslaco- Bernice Wilson Everitt, beloved mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend, entered eternal rest on Tuesday, April 8, 2014, at the age of 97 at Valley Grande Manor Nursing Home in Weslaco, Texas. She was born on October 17, 1916, near Decatur, Texas, to Herbert B. Wilson and Sally Renshaw Wilson. The family moved to Denton, Texas, when she was five years old. Bernice grew up in Denton, Texas, and graduated from Texas Woman’s University with a B. A. in history and education. She later received her Master’s Degree in Counseling and Guidance from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas, and did graduate work at the University of Denver and University of Texas, in Austin, Texas.

She fulfilled her lifelong ambition to be a teacher at age 18 in Barnhart, Texas. She then went to teach at Fort Stockton, Texas, before going to Pleasanton, Texas, where she met and married her husband of 61 years, Bill Everitt. Her last 23 years were spent in counseling in the North East School District in San Antonio, Texas. She also taught Counseling and Guidance courses at the graduate level at Our Lady of the Lake University. She retired in 1982 after forty years of teaching.

Bernice was a member and past president of the following organizations: Alamo Mission Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, North San Antonio Retired Teachers, District 20 Texas Retired Teachers Association, Epsilon Beta Chapter, Delta Kappa Gamma, and Alamo Heights United Methodist Women. She was also a member of the San Antonio de Bexar Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and of Alamo Heights Methodist Church where she served on the Board and was a rotating teacher of the Kum Dubblers Class.

After retiring from education, her hobbies became oil painting and genealogy. She made beautiful paintings of San Antonio historical sites and landscapes. As a result of her research in genealogy, she wrote two family histories. One was on her mother’s family and was titled “Renshaw Cousins” and the second one was on her husband’s family and was titled “Stephen H. Everitt, a Texas Hero”.

Bernice was preceded in death by her beloved husband, William J. Everitt (Bill) in 2001, and her son William McMaster (Billy Mac) in 2005. She was also preceded in death by her parents and four brothers.
She is survived by her son, James H. Everitt (Jeanne) and three grandchildren, Jason (Monica) Everitt, Jeffrey (Araceli) Everitt, and Julie Everitt as well as seven great-grandchildren, Sharon Everitt, Ryan Everitt, Nolan Everitt, Ivan Everitt, Miranda Jean Everitt, Hayley Hoover, and Ashlyn Hoover, all of Weslaco, Texas. She is also survived by a daughter-in-law, June Everitt, of San Antonio, Texas, two sisters, Doris Tipps of Carrollton, Texas, and Elisabeth Cogdill of Bonita, California, sister-in-law, Mertice Wilson of Waelder, Texas, and numerous nieces and nephews.

The family would like to thank Dr. Roger Heredia, Dr. Alejandro Fuentes, and Dr. Donna Mery at Mid Valley Family Practice in Weslaco, Texas, for the excellent care given to Bernice during her final years. They would also like to thank the personnel staff of Valley Grande Manor Nursing Home for the loving care given to Bernice for the past three years. A special thanks is extended to Betty Estrada who provided love and care to Bernice for about twenty-eight years while she lived in San Antonio, Texas.

Visitation will be from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 10, 2014, at Sunset Funeral Home, 1701 Austin Highway in San Antonio, Texas. The funeral service will be at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, April 11, 2014, at Alamo Heights United Methodist Church, 825 E. Basse Road, in San Antonio, Texas. Graveside service will be at 1:00 p.m. at the Pleasanton City Cemetery. Local arrangements were made by McCaleb Funeral Home in Weslaco, Texas.