Bernice Josephine Urban

Bernice J. Urban, age 90, died Monday, October 19, 2009 at the Henry Ford Village in Dearborn. Bernice was born to Amelia and Joseph Kozlauskas on October 30, 1918, in Michigan City, Indiana. Her parents were immigrants and Lithuanian was her first language; she was taught English by the nuns at St. Marys Catholic Church. Amelia and Joe sacrificed to be sure that both Bernice and her beloved younger sister, Ann, graduated from high school in an era when many young people did not have that opportunity. After graduation, Bernice took the train to Gary, Indiana each day to her job as bookkeeper for Foster Lumber Company. In August of 1940 she volunteered to travel to Detroit to represent her family at a funeral. A young man named Frank accompanied his buddy to meet the girl from Michigan City at the train station, and was so smitten he asked her out for a spaghetti dinner. Coming from a small town, she didnt even know what spaghetti was! When Bernice arrived home and told her sister and her best friend Wanda that she would marry this young man from Detroit, they laughed and laughed. Bernice and Frank Urban were married on January 18, 1941, at St. Marys. Their union lasted nearly 59 years until Franks passing on October 8, 1999. Bernice and Frank waited 14 years before being blessed with a family of four babies in five years. Grandma Amelia came to live with them and help raise the children. Their lives were enriched through music lessons, sports activities, and family trips, including excursions to the 1964 World Fair in New York City, Mammoth Cave, and a three week trip across the country that included stops in Albuquerque, the Painted Desert, Grand Canyon, San Diego and San Francisco. One summer she arranged swimming lessons for all of the neighborhood children at the pool installed in the Urban backyard. Bernice also was active at St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church in Warren and made many friendships through her job coordinating the innovative program that brought children during school time to attend catechism at the churchs activity center. Bernice could play a wicked game of both pinochle and gin rummy. Together with her husband, she loved horseracing and followed the thoroughbreds at tracks across the country, once attending the Breeders Cup at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Bernice was blessed with artistic talents and pursued many avenues for her creativity. She was an accomplished seamstress who sewed all of her three daughters clothes as they were growing up. She studied ceramics and china painting, and reached the rank of Journeyman in the National Guild of Decoupeurs. When her husband retired, Bernice and Frank traveled the country and settled out west in Henderson, Nevada. After her beloved Frankie passed away in 1999, she moved back to Michigan to be near her daughters and made new friends during the nine years she resided at Henry Ford Village in Dearborn. She was saddened by the loss of two of her daughters Francesca Usiondek (December 2002) and Ruthe Ann Urban (September 2008). After several surgeries and a brief illness, Bernice passed away on October 19, 2009. She leaves to cherish her memory her daughter Susan, her son John, her granddaughter Cheryl and her fianc Steve, her nephew Frank and his wife Kim, and many devoted friends including the Kwiecinski and Klein families. Visitation for Bernice will be held on Friday from 5-9 pm at the D.S. Temrowski & Sons Funeral Home, 30009 Hoover Road at Common (12 Mile Road). Bernice will lie in state on Saturday at 10 am at the Henry Ford Village Chapel, 15101 Ford Road in Dearborn (313) 584-1000, until the time of her Funeral Liturgy at 11 am. A memorial contribution in Bernice's name would be appreciated to a charity that shelters the homeless or feeds the hungry. Please share memories of Bernice at her Guest Book.