Ann R. Bernard

lived her 101 years in Nashville, Tennessee. She and her

husband of 64 years, Harold Stone “Jobe” Bernard, had a

marriage full of devotion, love, travel, and memories she reveled

in. She cared for him for 18 years in their home after he had a

devastating stroke. Her love for him has never wavered.

She is survived by their daughter, Jo Ann Bernard, and son,

Tommy Bernard. Her mother, Ada Cohen Joel, her father, Herbert

Ryan, and her sister, Reba Jean Kraft, predeceased her. She is

also survived by her loving nieces and nephews, Kenneth Kraft,

Trish Kraft Krizelman, Keith Kraft, and Nancy Kraft Galbut.

Ann, at her own requested wish, entered a talent show at the

Hippodrome Skating Rink when she was about 8 years old and

sang St. James Infirmary and won! That catapulted her to begin

singing with local orchestral bands in Nashville at Kiwanis and

Lions Club luncheons, followed by her own radio show on WLAC

and was known as The Songbird of the South. She often sang

with the Owen Bradley Orchestra. She loved to sing and adored

music right up to her passing. Michael Buble, her favorite,

accompanied her during her final transition. While she continued

singing for her own enjoyment, she stopped performing in her

teenage years.

With the tough times in WWII, after she graduated from West End

High School, she went to work at Third National Bank as the first

female bank teller in Nashville. With her husband, Jobe, stationed

in Norfolk, Virginia, she returned to Nashville, as he was overseas

in the Navy, and she went to work for the US Department of

Defense Transportation.

They built their family in Nashville after the war. In her later years,

Ann joined the board of Cheekwood, where she was part of the

creation of the Sculpture Trail there. She also became involved

with the Kennedy Center at Vanderbilt, mainly because they

studied the brain and stroke, which became very important to her

family with Jobe’s condition of 18 years. She also underwrote the

Jobe Bernard Stroke Symposium at Vanderbilt, named after her

husband, which annually addresses any and all current medical

work in the field of stroke, both to the medical community and

public at large. Ann has supported The Nashville Symphony, The

Temple, and other Jewish causes.

After 101 years, she continued to smile and say with joy, “It’s

been a hell of a ride”.

Funeral services will be on Monday February 3, 2025 at 2 PM at the Temple with burial to follow at the Temple Cemetery.

She would have loved Donations in her memory to The Temple

Ohabai Shalom or The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center

https://vkc.vumc.org/vkc/giving/ and the family thanks you.