Bernice Shields Herd

Mrs. Herd died Sunday, April 18, 2004, in Coldwater.

She was born July 23, 1897, in Grovespring, Mo., the daughter of Arnett and Atlanta Williams Shields.

She spent her early years in northern Texas, but attended high school in Missouri and college in Springfield, Mo. She and her husband arrived in Comanche County in a covered wagon in May 1915 and settled in Avilla Township. They remained in the Buttermilk community until they retired to Coldwater in 1950.

Mrs. Herd was a teacher before she married. She voted in 1920, the first presidential election in which women were allowed to vote. She was a charter member of the Antioch Methodist Church and served as Sunday school superintendent and teacher. In 1950 she became a member of Coldwater Methodist Church, where she served in several capacities, including teaching the young married couples class, then the women’s class until she was 90.

She participated in the Coldwater Civic Club, Kensington Club and the American Legion Auxiliary and helped start the Meals on Wheels program in Coldwater. She was recognized as a Kansas Merit Mother in 1975 and was selected by the governor as Kansas Mother of the Year in 1976.

She married J. James Herd on June 24, 1914, in Dallas County, Mo. He died earlier.

A son, James Herd Jr., also died earlier.

Survivors include two daughters, Lorraine Kendrick, Edmond, Okla., and Barbara Crane, Coldwater; three sons, Harold Herd, Coldwater, Ronald Herd, Gloucester, Va., and Eldon Herd, Lawrence; 21 grandchildren; 35 great-grandchildren; and 18 great-great-grandchildren.

Family will receive friends from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. today at Hatfield-Prusa Funeral Home in Coldwater.

The family suggests memorials to the United Methodist Church or Bernice Herd Scholarship, South Central Community Foundation, sent in care of the funeral home, 206 N. Philadelphia Ave., Coldwater 67029.