Bernadette T. Davidson August 31, 1922 – May 26, 2022

On August 31, 1922, in an ordinary two-story house in New Haven, CT, a surprise arrived! First, the doctor delivered Agnes Lorraine, then Bernadette Therese arrived quite unexpectedly. The tiny twins were bundled together into a padded box and slid behind the stove for warmth. Fraternal twins, they looked and behaved differently right from the start: Lorraine, vigorous and loud, Bernadette, smaller and quiet. Their family called them Rainey and Detts.

Their sister, Delma, older by 7 years often helped with their care. Brother Robert was 9. Detts recounted that when Delma got her first job, she bought dresses for her little sisters; a special gift during the Depression years.

By age 17, Detts worked at Acme Wire, making insulated wire. At 20, in a record store where customers could go into a glass booth to listen to the records before buying. Vinyl records were affordable and it seemed everyone listened to Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and others. Detts had those records for many years: the Big Bands (Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Glen Miller) and WWII songs (How are things in Glocca Morra and Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B).

With the start of WWII, Bernadette began her life caring for others. By age 22 she finished training as an Army LPN stationed at Ft. Ogelthorpe, GA, then worked at Lawson General Hospital, Atlanta, GA in the amputation center caring for soldiers wounded overseas. At the end of WWII, Detts returned to civilian life and joined the Army Reserve. Until her retirement she worked full-time at Grace New Haven Hospital as a surgical nurse in the EarNose-Throat Department.

Detts never married and always had many friends, some from childhood until their deaths. She mostly lived with her parents (Robert J. and Mamie Davidson (nee Marie E. Foisie), caring for them as they aged. The family remained in the childhood home until the mid 1950’s when they built a new home in New Haven. In the 1980’s, parents deceased, Bernadette moved to Florida and eventually settled in Palm Coast near her older sister. She established herself as an active member of St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church where she participated in prayer circle, Scripture studies and was a member of the Third Order of Lay Carmelites. Devoutly Catholic, she prayed the Rosary daily and attended daily Mass. In her eighties she brought Rainey and her husband Larry to Florida where they took care of each other until their deaths.

Throughout her life, Bernadette practiced a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin. She traveled to many Catholic holy sites including St. Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal in Montreal, Canada. The founder, Saint Brother Andre Bessette was a cousin to her mother. She visited the holy sites in Lourdes, France, Rome, Italy, Fatima in Portugal and the Holy Land. Detts also made several trips to Medjugorie, Yugoslavia where the Virgin Mary appeared to local children. Travelers carried medicine for the local clinic.

Bernadette was healthy and active through most of her life, living independently in her own little condo, even driving until a few years ago. Besides a great many cherished friend, she leaves nieces and nephew and their children to remember and carry on her example. Nieces: Elizabeth “Liz” Hawkins of Everett, WA, Roberta “Bobbie” Reed of Enfield, CT; and Henry F. (Rick) Schultze of Palm Coast, FL.