Mrs. Bernice King Gallagher died a few days before her 96th birthday, Friday morning, February 25, 2011, in the Northwestern Medical Center, following a serious illness of one week. She was born in Fairfax March 6, 1915 daughter of the late William O. and Mary “Maude” (Laughlin) King. After graduation from BFA Fairfax, she was employed as a telephone operator. She also assisted in the home and office of Dr. Howard Johnson, then, following the death of her sister Elizabeth and her husband, Dr. Johnson, Bernice assumed the loving parental duty of their teenage daughter, Mary Johnson, whom she raised as one of her own children. November 25, 1950 she married Thomas Gallagher. Mr. Gallagher died April 25, 1998. Bernice was a member of the Court St. Mary, Catholic Daughters of the Americas and a communicant of St. Mary’s Church. She enjoyed being in political conversations and made telephone calls often. Her sons claimed to see a red glow from the telephone lines during some of these calls. She is survived by her two sons and daughters-in-law John and Susan Gallagher, James and Alma Gallagher, grandchildren and spouses Thomas Gallagher, Sarah Gallagher, Kathleen and John MacCallum, Dan and Rachel Gallagher, Dawn and R. J. Fournier, 7 great-grandchildren, a sister and her husband Patricia and Hollis Hardy of Holdon, Mass., several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents, husband Thomas, grandson Luke Gallagher, brothers, sisters and spouses Howard King, Owen King, Paul and Mary Jane King, Eustace and Gladys King, Elizabeth and Dr. Howard Johnson, Irma and Buel Mitchell, Charlotte and Bernard Keefe, Helen and Albert Luther, Mary and Maurice Ratte, Margaret and Homer Raleigh, her sister-in-law Barbara Gallagher Kennedy, and special niece Mary Johnson Welch. She also was predeceased by her special sheltie “Lady”. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Tuesday, March 1, 2011, at 11:00 A. M. in St. Mary’s Church. A longtime family friend, Father Marcel Rainville, S.S.E., will be the celebrant. Friends may call at the Brady & Levesque Funeral Home, 86 South Main St. from 6 to 9 Monday evening. Interment will be in the Gallagher family lot in Holy Cross Cemetery. Those planning an expression of sympathy are asked to consider Masses or the charity of your choice. Online condolences may be sent to her family by the funeral home website:
www.bradyandlevesque.com. Arrangements are entrusted to the Brady & Levesque Funeral Home and Commemorative Services.
