- Date Of Birth: July 6, 1937
- Date Of Death: June 3, 2020
- State: New Jersey
Bernice Lech Kephart, 82, of Bayville, NJ, passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on Wednesday, June 3, 2020 after a year-long battle with cancer. She was born on July 6, 1937 in Plainfield, NJ, to Peter and Anna Lech. A Victrola 78 recording captures her parents singing “My Bunny lies over the ocean” to her when she was a baby.
Music was the first love of Bernice’s life. Bernice had perfect pitch and an unmatched gift for site reading. She began studying piano seriously at the age of 5 when her parents bought her a Wurlitzer Studio Upright that she had for the rest of her life and at which she later taught many piano lessons. As a teenager and young adult, she studied piano in New York City with Juilliard piano teachers, won many piano awards from the Griffith Music Foundation in Newark, NJ, and performed a solo concert at the culmination of her studies. She could play the music of any composer, but she preferred Chopin.
Bernice was devoted to the Catholic Church and applied her talents and love of church music to the Catholic community. She began playing in churches at a young age and served throughout her life as a church organist and music director, playing up until the last few months before her death. Her church music career began in Plainfield, NJ. Once in Ocean County, she continued at various local Catholic churches, including St. Barnabas in Bayville, St. Mary’s in Barnegat, Church of the Epiphany in Brick, and, most recently, St. Pio in Lavallette. She was also organist and choir director at Trinity United Methodist Church in Bayville (now called Faith Community) for about a decade beginning in 1983.
Additionally, she was the accompanist and conductor for many choral ensembles, including: in the late 1970s, the Berkeley Community Choir which she formed and conducted; the Garden State Philharmonic Chorus and Touring Chorus; and The Island Singers. She performed in countless concerts over her lifetime, including duo piano and organ concerts with Elsie Madsen Fischer, and piano and flute/vocal performances with her daughter Christine. She was an active member of the American Guild of Organists and the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. Many of her most meaningful friendships were formed in these musical communities.
Bernice Lech Kephart married James (Jim) K. Kephart in May 1964. They moved from Plainfield to Silverton and then, in 1974, to Bayville where they built a house to raise their four children. In 1970, Bernice began working at the Naval Air Warfare Center at Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Station, Lakehurst, NJ, in contract purchasing. By her retirement 28 years later she had achieved the highest civilian status and received many awards for her service. After Jim’s death in 2005, Bernice continued living in their Bayville house with her cats and maintained her busy musical schedule.
Bernice leaves behind a loving family that was the center of her life. She is survived by two sisters, Cecelia Payne of Virginia and Jane Pryce of Michigan and their families; two daughters and sons-in-law, Christine Kephart & her husband Richard Kraus, and Kathleen Musillo & her husband Emanuel Musillo; a son and daughter-in-law, Jeffrey Kephart & his wife Karen; another son, Peter Kephart; and two grandchildren, Quinnyameh Musillo & Chenoa Musillo.
