BERNICE GAINES DORN as told by Bernice Dorn in many talks with friends and family before dementia in 2015...

Life began for Bernice Gaines on December 8, 1934. She was born on the Gaines family farm in Blockers, near Tallahassee Florida to Willie Mae Gaines and Bert Hadley, and named Flowera Mae Gaines at birth. Her name was later changed to Bernice by her Aunt Jospehine Hadley shortly after she was born. The name Bernice means "bringer of victory." Bernice lived up to her name.

Bernice was born a Gaines, which means a lot to Black Floridians. In 1934, it meant even more if you were colored/Black. The Gaines' were influential and had business relationships with white police and others. They were farmers and moonshiners. They had relatively great success and power in Florida because they had their own land and some money. Working your own land was a type of freedom, and therefore meant everything.

Bernice had a happy childhood. She lived with her mother and some aunts and uncles in Blockers on the Gaines property. Bernice lived the first five years of her life with her "double first cousins" on Blockers, who were like brothers and sisters to her, including Willie B. Smith, Josephine "Babydoll" Sharpe, Louise Simmons, and Marguerite Jones, all who preceded her in death. Bernice and Babydoll were extremely close. They played together as children. Their mothers Willie Mae and Emma (Aunt Toot) were sisters and their fathers, Bert and Robert Hadley, were brothers. They were born 2 weeks after each other and passed away 4 years apart - on the same day.

In the 1940's Willie Mae married, Bernice's stepfather, James Hughes, whom family lore says avoided a lynch mob in Tallahassee through quick thinking and negotiation with local law enforcement. He was a strong man and strong disciplinarian. While Bernice was not close to him, they got along well enough. She also gained four step siblings whom her mother treated as her own children: Leroy Jones, Joe Louis Hughes, Mercy D Cloud, and Loraine nee Hughes all of whom preceded her in death. She and her mother developed some loving relationships with the Hughes family. Willie Mae and James Hughes raised Michael Cloud (Mercy D, Johnnie Cloud), and loved him. Willie Mae also loved and adored her great grandson Marquie Cloud, son of Michael Cloud and La Mora Pierre, who played with Tracy in the old days at Grandma Willie Mae's house. Like mother, like daughter, Bernice and Marquie also shared a special relationship.

Bernice was lucky. Willie Mae loved her like a rock. While Willie Mae had almost no education, thanks to her father, she was still a visionary Black woman.. While Willie Mae and most of her siblings were removed from school by the time they were ten years old to work the Gaines family farm in the 1920s, she did not want this for her child. She wanted her daughter to be educated.

Bernice's life was changed by education. Bernice attended a segregated local country school as a southern black child in the 1940s, most likely a Rosenwald school. She was a great student, and recalled in her later years, that she was often chosen to help other students in the classroom.

By the time she was eight, Willie Mae recognized Bernice's intelligence. On the advice of her brother, Johnny Gaines, a World War 2 vet who had seen a less racist world in the war, she sent Bernice to Jacksonville in order to live with family and attend Florida's best school for Black people. In exchange for her mother's money and Bernice doing housework, Bernice lived with her aunt and uncle on the Gaines side from the age of 8 to 16 when she graduated from "Dear Ole' Stanton" high school. She worked hard at home and at school and excelled at both. She did all of the housework every day because her Aunt kept a spotless house. She also did her school work flawlessly. Bernice never complained about any of this, so as not to hurt her mother, plus she felt her circumstances were good overall.

Living with her Aunt, Bernice developed a strong faith in herself, and did learn a lot in Jacksonville. She lived her entire life through motivation from lnvictus, a poem by William Healey - and its powerful pronouncement - which she truly believed: "I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul." The poem motivated her over the course of her lifetime.

Bernice graduated at the top of her class from the legendary Stanton High School in Jacksonville, Florida, one of the best Black high schools in the United States. It was the expectation that Stanton graduates would attend college or trade school. Bernice attended the historically black college FAMU, and later FAMU's law school. She was the first in her law school class. All of the other participants were men. Bernice had a mind like a steel trap, and loved studying law, which she thought should be used as a tool for justice.

She was the master of her fate. She was the captain of her soul. Bernice converted to Catholicism in her teens because she loved her communion with God, and the fifteen year old Bernice was considering becoming a nun. Black Catholics were unusual outside of Louisiana. Bernice became a Catholic anyway. She loved the church's commitment to the poor, dedication to fairness and civil rights, among other things. All of her children were raised as Catholics.

She was the master of her fate. She attended FAMU where she was an AKA, and a champion debater. Her decision to attend law school was eventually historic. In 1958, she became the first black woman to pass the bar and practice law in the state of Florida. She broke a barrier in 1958, which many others followed, including her daughter, Angela Dorn, who was inspired by her mother's success to attend Harvard Law School.

Bernice practiced law for a few years at a law firm in Jacksonville, Florida as a civil litigator and family lawyer. She refused to participate in what she viewed as corrupt and immoral aspects of the practice,and left the law firm to teach at FAMU. She met Stephen E. Dorn, ultimately a very successful hospital administrator, in Jacksonville, FL where they both worked.

They fell in love, married and enjoyed a strong marriage, which lasted 45 years, until he preceded her in death in 2007. Losing Steve broke her heart. He was the love of her life, along with God, her mother, her children, and her many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. The other joys and love of her life were her four children with Steve Dorn: Stephen Jeffrey Dorn (pre-deceased), Angela Dorn, Michael Dorn and Tracy Dorn, and her beloved grandchildren, Noel Dorn, Blake Dorn, her beloved son Michael's children, and Brianna Dorn and Jourdan Dorn, her beloved son Steve's children.

Bernice followed Steve's career and lived in Philadelphia, Chicagoland, and St. Louis until they retired to Florida in the 1990s.

Wherever they went, Steve and Bernice raised hell together (so to speak). They fought for and marched for civil rights, integrated suburbs, believing it would help their kids and help the country fight racism. After the birth of their last child, Tracy Dorn, who has special needs, she became an advocate for her child with disabilities. She was in the hospital with Tracy every day for two years or so, protecting her through 40 operations at Chicago Children's Hospital which saved her life. Because of Bernice, Tracy is with us today too. Aside from Bernice, Tracy Dorn is probably everyone's favorite Dorn. She is loving, kind and the ultimate love of an entire family's lives.

While Bernice left the formal practice of law for marriage and family, she provided friends and family with help and informal counsel for fifty years, which is a very long time. Through her great love, she helped in other ways as a leading voice in the League of Women Voters, a Great Books Instructor, Cub Scout Den Mother, hockey mom and Mother to four interesting kids, who became even more interesting adults: Steve (pre-deceased), Angela, Michael, and Tracy Dorn. She was their ultimate rock, and her husband's ultimate rock. Everyone who knew her felt fortunate and blessed, but no one felt this more than her family.

Bernice was humble about all of her life achievements, except for the success of her children, whether it was at reading a book, or working at a new job. While she never doubted her choice, she thought that she possibly peaked early, and maybe made a mistake by not practicing law - but she was wrong; she brought victory for all of us until she left this world on February 24, 2024 four years after Baby Doll, and only days after her mother's February 1915 birthday.

She died at home in Sag Harbor, NY, surrounded by new Sag Harbor friends, her baby Tracy, her family, and her "family like" caretakers Sandra Mann and Janique Robinson, who cared for her in her last days. Many things about Bernice's dementia were sad, but the beautiful thing was that she still knew that she was Bernice Gaines, the ass kicker, and still knew she was loved,and was still loving until her last days on earth.

Her advice to you would be the same as her advice to all of her children: know that YOU are the captain of your fate, and you are the master of your soul. Love and work hard, and prepare yourself to live your life and to love your family with everything you have, and you may be happier in life, like Bernice.

Bernice Gaines Dorn was a powerhouse until the end. May the lord bless her and keep her until we meet again. Now she is back with her mother Willie Mae, her son Steve, her husband Steve, her "sister'' Baby Doll, and so many others. The family thanks her many friends, family and admirers for loving her while she was on earth. The family thanks Bernice for being our mother, teaching us our values, and leading us on our life journey. May she rest in peace.