James E. Bernier

James E. Bernier, 82 February 23, 1939 - July 20, 2021 

Jim Bernier was many things: husband, father, step-father, grandfather, son, brother, uncle and mentor. His many interests and talents took him around the world, initially as a U.S. Air Force Airman (1960-1968) and Chinese linguist in Taipei, Taiwan (1961-1963). He later took on the roles of mathematician, teacher, Missile Systems Analyst at Foreign Technology Division, Wright Patterson AFB, at Geodynamics, and later as proprietor of his own longstanding analysis company, JEBSys Associates. Jim was a graduate of Dayton, Ohio’s Chaminade High School class of 1957 and earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Ohio State University in 1965 (Phi Beta Kappa) while enlisted in the Air Force. As a Staff Sergeant, he served in Pleiku, Vietnam in 1966. 

Jim loved the open road, an open itinerary and a "double-cheese-extra-cheese" hamburger from Wendy’s. As a young man and father, he was a radio controlled model airplane enthusiast, builder, competitor and organizer. He always managed to have something flyable in the works in his basement “shop”. Jim was continually active in the communities and neighborhoods he called home: Dayton, Ohio; Fairfax, Virginia; and Evergreen, Colorado. In his later years he, his wife Kathi and their dogs were happiest in the mountains of Colorado. But throughout his life everyone remembers Jim most fondly as a piano man. Playing mostly by ear, as a young father, on most evenings after dinner he could be found at the piano teaching himself his favorite songs. At family gatherings and celebrations, Corpus Christi Parish Jamborees in Dayton, Ohio, and anywhere else he might find a lonely piano, he inevitably created shared memories with a familiar tune or three. He was happiest when the crowd was singing along, and that was often. Even weeks before his passing he entertained friends and “groupies” at his Denver senior residence with a moving Moonlight Sonata or a rolicking Scott Joplin rag right after dinner. His music and his sense of adventure were his delight and his magic. 

Jim was preceded in death by his wife Catherine J. Bernier, his mother Elizabeth Jane Kolofski Bernier, father Robert Victor Bernier, sisters Shirley A. Koffroth and Beth J. Elias and son-in-law David E. Weymouth. He is survived by his sisters Barbara J. Clendenin and Lisa Bernier-Miwa, the mother of his children, Lana B. Kuzon, daughters Kathryn B. Weymouth and Audrey B. Schwankl (Jimmy), sons SFC Andrew J. Bernier (USAR) and Bradford J. Bernier (Carolyn), stepson Daniel J. Jahn, grandchildren Gillian C. Herrle (Aaron) and Hillary J. Borges (Josh), Olivia K. Weymouth, Nicholas P., Jesenia M. and Breanna L. Schwankl, John Xavier Bernier (Jack), his great grandsons Roman M. and Asher M. Herrle, his nieces, nephews and their families, as well as many colleagues and friends. 

Per request of Jim and Kathi, their ashes will be returned to their beloved mountain in Colorado.Please contact Audrey Schwankl at (919)-214-9152 for more information about memorial eventsto be held in Dayton, Ohio and Evergreen, Colorado. In lieu of flowers, please perform a randomact of kindness for a stranger in memory of Jim.