Bernice was born Dec. 6, 1933, in Moultrie, Ga., the daughter of George Wesley Howard, a tobacco farm supervisor and forest ranger, and Annie Lee (Trickey) Howard, a restaurant cook and homemaker. She had two brothers, Robert Lee Howard and Curtis Eugene Howard; and three sisters, Sallie M. Howard, Hazel Anne Guido and Mildred Leola Pettyjohn, all predeceased.
Bernice is survived by five children: Thomas Wayne Still (Kathy) of Madison, Wis., and Janice Patrice Sosias (Lucas), Jan Michael Ridder (Pam), Richard Dale Ridder (Robin) and Pamela Ann DePinto, all of the Denver area. She is also survived by 11 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, three step-great-grandchildren, and four great-great grandchildren.
Those 11 grandchildren are: Stephanie Walczak, Samuel Still, Nicholas Still, Jeffrey Sosias, Curtis Sosias, Brianna Trujillo, Brandon Ridder, Cassandra Ridder, Denea Junevicus, Jennifer Harbaugh and Melissa Fisher.
Those 16 great-grandchildren are: Kyle Sosias-Davies, Zachary Sosias-Davies, Madison Sosias, Kelsey Sosias, Cade Sosias, Connor Sosias, Nathaniel Blair, Vincent Trujillo, Tommy Martinez. Gabriel Martinez, Aaliyah Martinez, Brody Ridder, Kayleigh Junevicus, Alessi Harbaugh and Miles Fisher, Kason Nye and her step-great-grandchildren are: Daniel Viguerias, Alyssa Diaz, and Randy Romero.
Those three great, great grandchildren are: Violet Blair, Renesseme Trujillo, Elianna Trujillo.
Bernice was the first of the siblings who graduated from high school, where her activities included basketball, and soon began work as a secretary in the Officer’s Club at Spence Air Force Base near Moultrie. There she met Jan Ridder, a Royal Dutch Air Force pilot in training at this Cold War air base. They were married in 1954 and were together 66 years until Jan’s death Feb. 22, 2020, in Denver, Colo., where they moved after Jan completed his military service and began work in the accounting industry.
Bernice was always a part of the community, taking part in school and neighborhood activities. She worked for several years at St. Anthony’s North Hospital in food service and was an avid fisherwoman, known for hauling in her share of catches at Lake Grandby, Colo., where the Ridder family kept a vacation residence at the T Lazy W Park.
Services will be held 10 a.m. Friday, March 8, at Olinger Funeral, Creation and Cemetery-Highland, 10201 Grant St., Thornton, followed by a reception and internment.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association through her tribute page at http://act.alz.org/goto/Bernice_Ridder
The family would like to thank those talented and caring medical and hospice care professionals who made the closing chapter of Bernice’s life as comfortable as possible.
