Browning.Bernice.1994.Whitley.OBIT


Bernice Bird Browning March 30 1994 
Whitley County KyArchives Obituaries

News Journal
Former Whitley Republican editor/publisher passes away in Lexington
   Mrs. Harold A. (Bernice Bird) Browning died in Lexington, Kentucky on May 30, 1994.  Officiating at the graveside service on June 5 in Highland Cemetery of Williamsburg were Professor Charles Dupier and Judge Eugene Siler Jr.
   Pallbearers were J.B. Montjoy, William Buhl Jr., Bart Davis, Dr. Walter Blaine Early III, Frank Atkins Jr., Richard Atkins, Eugene Siler III, and Adam Troy Siler.
   Mrs. Browning, the former Miss Bernice Bird, was born July 24, 1903 in Williamsburg.  Her parents were the late John Crittenden Bird, an attorney, and Leonara Croley Bird.  Grandparents were Mr. and Mrs. William Franklin Bird and Mr. and Mrs. William P. Croley, all Whitley Countians of the Pleasant View community.
   The Bird home on Main Street, now the site of Archer Hall, adjoined the Cumberland College campus, and Mrs. Browning obtained her early education in that institution's private grade school, academy and junior college.  She later received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Kentucky, where she was a member of the Delta Zeta sorority, and a master of arts degree from the University of Louisville.
   Mrs. Browning taught English and Latin in the Williamsburg High School and joined Mr. Browning, whom she married October 6, 1923, at the Whitley Republican in 1932.
   Through the years she served in all front office capacities and wrote a column, "Bird Chatter."  After Mr. Browning's retirement in 1957, she assumed full management as editor-publisher.  She held various company offices after the newspaper was incorporated in 1968.  After 51 years of family ownership the Whitley Republican was sold by the Brownings in August 1973.
   Mrs. Browning was the mother of two children, a daughter, Bernice Bird Browning, (Mrs. Thomas Cole Phelps); a son, Harold A. Browning, Jr.; one grandson, Thomas Cole Phelps, Jr.; one great-grandson, Thomas Cole Phelps III; and a great-granddaughter, Kathryn Elizabeth Phelps.
   From her youth, Mrs. Browning was a participant in the social and civic activities of the community, including membership in the William Whitley Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.
   Mrs. Browning was fond of saying that her "background was between Main and Maple," having grown up on Main Street and having spent most of her adult years across the campus on Maple Street. She said she couldn't have had a better one.
   Survivors include a sister, Mrs. John Carson of Frankfort; a grandson, Thomas Cole Phelps Jr., of Birmingham and two great-grandchildren.

Submitted by: Mary Lou Hudson http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00005.html#0001143



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