Elaine Elizabeth (Couture) Bernier

Elaine Elizabeth (Couture) Bernier, 88, of Ware, Massachusetts passed away peacefully at her home on the evening of 24 September after a 10-year battle with Alzheimer’s. She was born in Ware, Massachusetts on February 10, 1936, as the youngest of four children to Raymond and Marie Rose (Berthiaume) Couture. After she graduated from Ware High School in 1954, she set off on an adventure to New York City to work for an airline. Elaine eventually came back home and landed a job with the Ware Radio Station for several years before settling into a long and successful career with the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance, culminating as the organization’s regional executive director in Boston, MA. She met Raymond Bernier, the love of her life, while working at the Ware Radio Station. They married on July 13, 1957, at Mt. Carmel Church in Ware, MA and settled in Ware where they raised their four children. They recently celebrated 67 years of marriage. Family and faith were at the center of Elaine’s life. She was close to her brother and two sisters, was an active member of the Mt Carmel and All Saints parish communities for many years and was as welcoming, kind, and generous to others as she was to her own family. She enjoyed hosting family and friends for holidays and special events, spending time with her children and grandchildren, reading, gardening, traveling, swimming, and walking. Retirement was filled with annual “snow birding” to Florida, training and accomplishing a half marathon at the age of seventy-two and regular participation in Ft Myers Beach Turkey Trots and Las Vegas Santa Runs. She is survived by her four children and their spouses: John Bernier (Lina), Rena Sumner (Scott), Tracy Brown-May (Jeff) and Mike Bernier (Julie), her grandchildren and their spouses Michael Kent (Beth), Heidi Harkins (Megan), Kelly Shannon (Ross), Ryan Bernier, Patrick Bernier (Daniele), Randi May, Rena Brown, Alex Brown (Karlie), Logan Bernier, Sean Bernier, her great grandchildren Graeme, Avery, Charlotte, Macklin, Caroline, Connelly, Grady, Strike, Belle, and Sunnie and her loving sister Jeanette. She is blessed to be reunited in heaven with her parents and her two siblings, Paul Couture and Lucille Szlosek. A special thank you to Vitas HealthCare Hospice staff for their tremendous care and support over the last year. A Funeral Mass will be held on June 21, 2025, at 10 AM in All Saints Church in Ware, MA. Inurnment will follow in Mount Carmel Cemetery, Ware.  A Celebration of Eliane's Life and Legacy will take place immediately after the committal service at Teres's Restaurant in Ware.  Funeral Services are under the direction of Cebula Funeral Home, Ware.  For more information and an online guestbook, please visit:  www.cebulafuneralhome.com. 

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