Middleton, NS
May 19, 1935 - January 6, 2024
Born in Yarmouth Hospital May 19, 1935, Bernice (Porter) Powell passed away peacefully there January 6, 2024. A daughter of Andrew and Lillian (Chapman) Porter, she was raised between Kemptville and Lakeside Road, attending schools in Hebron and Yarmouth, graduating with a Commercial certificate from Yarmouth Vocational School in 1953.
Her first job was with Guest’s Hardware, Yarmouth until the birth of her first child. Moving with her husband Everett Pugh to Brier Island in 1956, she operated a boarding house there for several years, returning to Hebron in 1962.
In 1967, the family moved to Wolfville where in 1968, she embarked on a 28-year career as the “Voice of Acadia”. Hers was often the first voice heard whenever a caller asked to speak to anyone within the university. Bernice directed calls through the manual switchboard, timed outgoing long-distance calls, coordinated phone repairs and balanced hundreds of pages of MT&T bills each month, sending each department their detailed (and balanced to the penny) statements. While working at Acadia, she was President of the Acadia Ladies Staff Association and helped bring in the change to a unionized workforce through joining the Service Employees International Union, helping many staff members to achieve negotiated wage parity.
Retiring to Tiverton in 1996 with husband Grafton Outhouse, she immersed herself in volunteer work with Tiverton Baptist Church, Super Seniors and the Descendants of Robert and Sarah Outhouse. She was a fierce Skip-Bo and Scrabble player, winning many medals in the Seniors’ Games. A member of Hebron, Wolfville, Tiverton and Bridgewater Baptist Churches and a Life Member of the United Baptist Women’s Missionary Society, she participated in choir and other church activities within the four churches, as well as in the Westport Church of Christ.
Predeceased by her parents, brother Rev. Douglas A.C. Porter, husbands Everett (Pugh) Powell and Grafton Outhouse and nephew David, Bernice is survived by her daughters Dorothy (Roger) Outhouse, Freeport; Carol (Mark) Titus, Dartmouth; stepsons Everett (Christine) Powell; Lewis (Rita) Powell and Peter (Jean) Outhouse, sisters Margaret (James) Rose, Port Maitland and Iris Porter, Moncton N.B., sister-in-law, Ella Porter, Lunenburg, as well as six grandchildren: Steven (Jen) Outhouse, Richard (Jena) Parsons, Sarah (Brian) Macdonald, Kate (Felicity) Dowdle, Michael (Amy) Titus, Brianna (Alex) Faulkner, and ten great grandchildren all of whom were her pride and joy; six step-grandchildren and several step-great grandchildren who she viewed as her own, as well as nieces and nephews.
Special thanks to the staff of Yarmouth Heights who made Mom feel so well looked after in the last fifteen months of her life and to her sister Peggy who sang her home.
A memorial service will be held 2 p.m. May 18th, 2024 in Middleton Funeral Home, 398 Main Street, 1-855-825-3448.
Donations in her memory may be made to the Alzheimers Society, Souls Harbour, or the charity of your choice.
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