Maxine Bernreuter

Obituary – Maxine Bernreuter (nee Lee; nee Fauver)

Maxine Bernreuter was born on January 11, 1943 in Toole, Utah and died July 6th, 2024 in Austin, Texas, spending her school years and beyond in Saginaw County, Michigan. She moved to Texas in 1983 and lived there until her death. She married Frederick James Fauver (Jim) upon graduation from high school; they had three children together. In 1980 she married Dr. Edward S Bernreuter.

Maxine worked at a variety of jobs in her teens, but found her calling at 20, when she completed a Practical (Vocational) nursing program in 1963 in Saginaw, Michigan. She immediately began working full-time and taking classes part-time to become a registered nurse, which she completed in 1968. Maxine continued her education receiving her baccalaureate in Nursing in 1980 from the University of Michigan-Flint, then relocated to Texas where she completed a master’s degree in nursing at the University of Texas at Austin in 1984. She was awarded her PhD in nursing in 1998 from the University of Alabama at Birmingham while working full-time and supporting her kids through college. Her nursing areas of specialty were the ER, ICU, psychiatry, and management, capping her management career as chief nurse and assistant administrator of a hospital in San Antonio. Maxine began teaching nursing full-time in 1990, and worked at several nursing schools, including 10 years at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. She continued to work into her mid-70’s and concluded her career as the Director of an undergraduate baccalaureate nursing program. During Maxine’s career she was President of District 8 Texas Nurse’s Association, and President and then Executive Director of the American Board of Nursing Specialties. She served for several years on the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s board on Certification. She was often published in national nursing journals and received several honors during her career.

During her life, Maxine sewed, gardened, read, was involved with the Girl Scouts, and was an avid fan of the Longhorn football team, missing only six home games over a 40-year period. She and Ed enjoyed foreign travel and travel in their motorhome throughout the US, as far as Canada and Alaska for nearly 35 years.

Maxine was preceded in death by her parents Robert and Lillian (Bahnsen) Lee of Bridgeport Michigan and is survived by her three children Marsha Symons and her husband, Russ Symons of San Antonio, Rikilynn Layher and her husband, Paul, of Frankenmuth, Michigan, and James Fauver and his wife, Kellie, of Cedar Park, Texas, as well as grandchildren Charity Harris (Gray), Sadie Layher, Sam Layher, James Fauver II and also brother and sisters Kenneth Lee, Kathleen Babbin, Patricia Kelsey, Cheryl McFarland, and their spouses.

Funeral service will take place on Friday, July 19, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. at Cederberg Funeral Home, 590 Franklin St., Frankenmuth, Michigan. Burial to follow at Roselawn Memorial Gardens, 950 N. Center Rd, Saginaw. Family will greet guests at Cederberg from 10:00 a.m. until the time of service. In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy may wish to consider memorials to mostministries.org or nurseshouse.org.