Elba Iris Bernard

Mami | Mother | Madre | Mom | Abuela | Sister | Tia | Titi | Madre Espiritual | La Vieja

Our mother, Elba Iris Bernard was born on March 23, 1942 in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. At the age of 13 she arrived in Vineland, NJ where she came to Christ at ‘Third & Quince’ - Vineland Spanish Pentecostal Church, Assemblies of God (A/G). In 1962, she married and had three daughters, which she called ‘her perlas’ (her pearls): Nellie, Joanne and Elbita.

Mama loved the Lord. She received a specific call to ministry at around the age of 18, before she was married or was an Abuela. When she responded, she did so with assurance and was determined to live the rest of her life spreading the good news. The church supported her vocational calling by sending her to Puerto Rico to study at the Mizpah Bible Institute (Instituto Mizpa) where she was theologically trained. After graduation she returned to Vineland, and there were many who came to Christ through her witness. There are too many to count who will forever call Hermana Elba, their spiritual mom.

At Third & Quince, Mami served in many leadership capacities. She was a Sunday School teacher and Sunday School Superintendent. Mama led Women’s ministry and was one of the first women to be involved with the Royal Rangers (boys club). She served as a Missionette Leader for the longest time, where she invested her best into the Christ-like formation of girls and young women ranging from the ages of 4-18. In addition to being, a deacon at the local church, she was an ordained minister of the Assemblies of God, Spanish Eastern District and then later in Florida. This allowed her to travel throughout the East Coast preaching in different church settings. She was a very gifted speaker filled with passion.

Regardless of when you came into Elba’s life, to know her is to understand her love for music. She sang in the choir. She did solo’s and she led worship at all times and everywhere. She was ALWAYS singing, right to the very last moment. And there weren’t many prayer warriors like her. If she said she was going to pray, you knew she was going to pray. It was not uncommon for her to tell you she was praying for you and to share words of encouragement right on the spot. Her nieces, nephews and spiritual children will tell you about those random ‘prayer’ calls they received from her. We all loved this about La Vieja. As her daughters, we remember as little girls sleeping under pews during prayer vigils and waking up early in the morning to go to fasting and prayer services at our local church. Rain, snow or shine if the church was calling us to pray, our mother was going to be there, and we were coming along. This was such a huge investment into our spiritual growth. Mami was also the ‘missionary’ of the local church. Our house always hosted missionaries coming into town. She had a love for mission’s and missionary work, and she was not able to go overseas but she understood about missions in our backyard long before it came a concept. This is one of the many things she passed down to her daughters.

Mami also LOVED education and took it seriously. We remember her decision to go to college and do a bachelor’s degree as an adult. She proudly sat in classrooms at Cumberland County College (Vineland, NJ) with students who were two to three times younger than she was. She treated them as classmates but couldn’t help but be motherly. Our Madre was awarded teacher of the year various times at the Instituto Bíblico (Bible Institute) and also taught at the A/G Seminary in West Chester, PA after graduating in 1995. In 2002, she enrolled in the Latino Latina Studies Program at Asbury Theological Seminary in Orlando to continue to grow her knowledge of the Bible and loved every moment including her most difficult course: Introducción al Griego (Greek Class). You had to admire her courage and relentless determination to be studious.

At the age of 65, it was time for our precious Mother to retire after teaching many years at Head Start, a job that fueled her love for children and her passion towards teaching. Her Head Start children loved everything about Mami. Retirement had less to do with reaching the traditional age. It was more related to her forgetfulness. That same year she was formally diagnosed with an early onset of Alzheimer’s. In many ways this redefined the way we did life together, but some things never changed.

Her smile never changed, and she had this awesome laughter that is unforgettable. Her love for children never changed and she was always wanting to grab and hug each passing stranger. In particular her love for family was unconditional. Even after many years of living with Alzheimer’s she would have these lucid moments where she would mention her brother or sister’s name. We can’t tell you the number of times she confused our names as daughters with the names of her nieces. Oh yes and any time she saw a male police officer she was convinced it was one of her nephews. Even though extended family lives at a distance she remembered for a long time her great nieces and great nephews. She did not get to meet her great, great nephews and the wonderful spouses of her great nieces but we know she would have loved them just the same. We don’t have to tell you that she also never stopped telling people she was praying for them. And if you asked, she would still tell you about her plans to go to the “mission field”.

On December 26, 2019, at 4:48pm at the age of 77 our Mom went to be with Jesus at AdventHealth Hospital on Lake Underhill in Orlando, FL. Her moment of glory was filled with love, dignity and respect just like she deserved. Amongst those gathered in the emergency room were nurses who held hands and prayed while others tried to extend her life for just a little longer. All in the room whispered sweet praises to God over Mami and Nellie while she Mama’s hand. But the time had come, and Mami stepped into eternity surrounded by an earthly cloud of witnesses who recognized they were standing on holy ground.

Mami has walked through heaven’s gate and moved on to be with her Jesus, but her legacy will live on in the hearts of the many people she touched. Her daughters Nellie Solis and Elbita Solis and Joanne Solis-Walker and her son-in-love Dan Walker and granddaughter, Adriana Walker will forever cherish her in their hearts. Her siblings Felicita Solis and Juan Bernard, Sr. as well as her sister in love, Enoelia will always know how much she loved them. There is no doubt that Mami prayed and blessed in advance all the nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews and great, great, nephews so they would live prosperous lives. All of us together, we know she fought a long and hard fight and that she fought like a champion. She never lost the faith and now she receives the crown of righteousness that God has for her and whoever believes in the Lord as Savior (2 Timothy 4:7-8).

Arrangements to celebrate her life have been made for Friday, January 3, 2020 from 7pm – 9pm and Saturday, January 4th from 9-10:15am at Asbury Theological Seminary, 8401 Valencia College Lane, Orlando, FL 32825. The committal service will follow on Saturday at 10:45am and will be held at Chapel Hill Cemetery, 2400 Harrell Road, Orlando, FL 32817.