Bessie C. Corner Austin

Bessie C. Austin died on April 18 at the age of 96 in the Clifton Rehabilitative Nursing Home where she has lived happily for the past three years. Her daughter Dorothy was at her side through her last days and at the time of her death, as was her daughter-in-law Diana.

Bessie Corner was born February 16, 1921, the daughter of Joseph Corner and Ada Gill of Fall River, both of whom had come from Lancashire, England. She was the sixth child in a family of eight. She graduated from B.M.C. Durfee High School in Fall River. On June 21,1941, Bessie married Donald E. Austin of Fall River and their daughter Dorothy was born on November 5, 1943.

As a young woman, Bessie worked at Border City Mills in Fall River where her father was a supervisor. During the war, she worked as a welder inside the smokestacks of a battleship in Providence while her husband Donald was in the Coast Guard. Her favorite professional work, however, was in a Fall River bank. She was an accomplished accountant and eventually worked as a partner with her husband in the Danis Transportation Company that they founded. On the home front, she kept meticulous accounts and records. In their later years, when Donald and Bessie supervised the building of Dorothy’s house on Seaview Avenue, Bessie accounted for every load of lumber, every delivery of pipes, and every hour of labor. She made the work of constructing a house a happy adventure for workers, family, and friends.

Bessie’s artistic talents were many. She could sew anything from a Halloween clown costume for Dorothy to an Easter coat with lace collar and cuffs. When she turned her talent to quilting, she made a dozen quilts for friends and family. She made intricately painted trays, and she was renowned for her Christmas fruitcakes. She was a self-taught natural pianist and could play anything she heard on the radio. Bessie was also a longtime member of the Garden Club and Christ Church in Swansea. She loved Swansea, but she also enjoyed wide travel with her sisters and friends –to Japan, South America, and Europe.

Bessie was the sister of the late Arthur, William, Florence and Elizabeth Corner, Ruth Dunn, Grace Martin, and May Mullen. Her husband Donald died in 2013. She is survived by her daughter, the Rev. Dr. Dorothy A. Austin and her daughter-in-law Professor Diana Eck, both Faculty Deans of Lowell House at Harvard University, as well as their children, many nieces and nephews, and a host of loving friends.

For 96 years, Bessie loved life and lived it well. When a fall prevented her from remaining at home, she lived happily at Clifton, where she visited with friends, listened to books, kept up with politics, and watched the Red Sox and Patriots.

The family wishes to thank Maggie Bernier, a devoted friend who helped Bessie with countless tasks, as well as all those who cared for Bessie so lovingly at Clifton.

The memorial service for Bessie C. Austin will be on Saturday, May 13 at 12:00 noon at Christ Church, 57 Main Street in Swansea, followed by a celebratory lunch at Dorothy and Diana’s home, 346 Seaview Avenue in Swansea.

Arrangements are in the care of WARING-SULLIVAN HOME at Cherry PLACE, 178 Winter Street, Fall River, MA 02720. For tributes: www.waring-sullivan.com