Bernice Kempler

Bernice Kempler

Monmouth Beach - Bernice Kempler, age 98, of Monmouth Beach, NJ, formerly of Deal, NJ, passed away in her home on February 18, 2020.

Bernice was a renaissance woman, a maverick, ahead of her time. She was a wife, a mother, a friend, an artist, a performer, a career woman, a business woman.

She attended Queens College, where she studied art, and continued on to Columbia University where she received a Master's Degree in Education. She then pursued teaching and went on to a career at Lenna Conrow School in Long Branch, NJ, where she taught 3rd grade for more than 30 years.

In addition to being a school teacher and a mother of three daughters, she shared her gift for singing and acting with her local community. She was the lead in several musicals at the JCC In Ocean, NJ, and sang on the radio when she was young.

Bernice and her husband, Henry, were also entrepreneurs, starting and managing several businesses throughout their life together. They successfully conquered several challenges, from a pie factory in FL, a kitchen cabinet factory and home building business in Ocean, NJ, two beach clubs (The Colony Surf Club and The West End Casino) in West End, NJ, and an off-campus dormitory for Monmouth University which they had converted from a Victorian house in Long Branch, NJ.

She was predeceased in 1994 by her husband of 48 years, Henry Kempler, and her parents, Philip and Dorothy Gordon. She is survived by her sister, Jean Moslin of Farmingdale, NY, her three daughters, Joan Goode of Ocean, NJ, Ellen Theodore of West Long Branch, NJ, and Susan Kempler Robbins of New York, NY, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

She led a long and wonderful life that inspired many. We will miss her very much.