From the comfort of her home, long-time Cassville resident Jane Bernhardt “can see bits of the [Mississippi] river rolling by” when she looks out her front window.
Cassville is one of many small towns on that river, but it’s in this village where Bernhardt has resided for the past 75 years.
It’s also where she turned 100 years old in January.
Bernhardt, who has four children and nine grandchildren, celebrated with friends and family for her tremendous occasion.
Moving to Cassville and being involved
It was in 1949, three years after the establishment of the Diocese of Madison, when Bernhardt originally moved from Milwaukee with her husband, Bernard, to the river village. Since then, she has become a pillar of the Cassville community.
Bernhardt quoted the first chapter of Ruth when she reflected, “When I married, it was, ‘Wither thou goest, I goest’.
“My husband was from this small town. He was a dentist and he came back to serve his small town, and so this is where I wound up.”
Over 75 years, Bernhardt has built the reputation as an active, involved resident of Cassville.
She said, “I think small towns are great for taking people in.
“I think when you move to a city, it’s hard to make acquaintances or to get involved in organizations. In a small town, everybody knows everybody, practically.
“If you’re married to a professional man, as I was, and also doing newspaper correspondence, you get involved.”
Bernhardt’s involvement in the community has guided her life, taking her from a background in journalism — what she studied while attending Marquette University in Milwaukee — to stints as a school teacher, choir director for St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Cassville, president of the Madison Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (MDCCW), and board positions for other community organizations.
Correspondent for the Catholic Herald
Between her involvement in the community and raising a family, Bernhardt was also able to put her education to use as a correspondent for the local newspaper and the Catholic Herald.
For the Catholic Herald, one of Bernhardt’s earliest articles was in the edition dated December 15, 1988.
Bernhardt deftly synthesized an event focused on “fundamentalism” and the Church’s response, hosted at Ss. Andrew and Thomas Parish in Potosi.
She wrote, “Fundamentalism is regarded as the fastest growing religious movement in the United States today, attracting thousands of Catholics and other Christians, so it is important to discover what the attraction is, what its beliefs are, and what to do when a loved one becomes a fundamentalist.”
She concluded, “As evidenced by growing attention to fundamentalism, perhaps its most important significance is that it has become a challenge to Catholics to read Sacred Scripture, to learn about the church, and to examine their own faith commitment.”
Certainly, Bernhardt’s analysis is as important now as it was then.
In her writing for the weekly Cassville paper, Bernhardt said, “My most recognizable reporting came when I represented the Dubuque Telegraph Herald for the rechristening of the U.S.S. Wisconsin — that was my biggest, most visible [writing], but other than that, it’s just been what is interesting to my neighbors.”
Into the Deep and parish life
Bernhardt has witnessed a multitude of changes in her life.
After living in Cassville for 75 years, Bernhardt can attest that, ”The town has evolved in many ways, and seeing that happen makes you realize nothing is permanent”.
For the village, there have been many changes, and those changes have affected family life.
Bernhardt said, “We had two big power plants here and both of those are gone. Employment has diminished. People don’t have a job to make their home here, so families move away where there are jobs.”
Of course, children have been leaving their parents to go to school, work, or to start a family for generations, but Bernhardt points out that small towns lack the return of those children, and this has inevitably affected the parish of St. Charles Borromeo in Cassville.
With Into the Deep, parish changes have been felt particularly strongly by Bernhardt and her fellow parishioners.
St. Charles Borromeo Parish is a part of Pastorate 1, which has six parishes, four schools, and three priests.
In Cassville, Sunday Mass is celebrated on the Saturday Vigil, due to the many parishes that make up the pastorate.
Bernhardt reflected that it “is very difficult to like [Into the Deep], for an older person like myself; you’re used to the old parish construction. So, it’s very difficult to like it, but we have to appreciate what the potential is for the number of priests available to serve all these parishes.
“You’re in a whole different ballgame for older people. I think the younger people can appreciate it better or take it in their stride, but the rest of us go along and say, ‘So be it.’
“We have to adapt and appreciate what we do have, and we certainly need to pray for more vocations . . . Here we have three priests who are spreading their time around six parishes, you have to appreciate what they’re going through, too.”
Developing and passing on the faith
One hundred years is a long time to develop a relationship with God.
For Bernhardt, her ongoing faith is attributed to being “very blessed with Catholic education all my life — grade school, Catholic high school, and Marquette University.”
Bernhardt added, “[Catholic values] have been reinforced as I married a good, strong Catholic and moved to a small town where the church was one of the mainstays of the community. All of that influenced being strong in your faith.”
Additionally, being involved in parish life helped Bernhardt pass down the faith to her four children, and she says she’s reaping the benefits now.
At 100, Bernhardt said, “I stay connected because we have a strong family and even though my children have moved away, they still carry their faith with them, thankfully, and we keep in touch. It’s not true for all families I’m afraid, but I’ve been very blessed.”
She continued, “I’ve just been blessed.
“I’ve been enjoying my independence and the fact that I can still be involved a little bit with neighbors, parish, and so forth. At 100, you don’t rely on all that contact with people, as you used to; just the fact that you’ve got good neighbors and good family around. That’s the important thing that keeps me going.”
Bernhardt concluded, “I am grateful to be blessed with relative good health and opportunities to put talents to work and appreciate the people that are around me.”