Bernice Taylor "Bunny" Dain

Bernice Taylor Dain
Bernice (Bunny) died on December 13, 2024. She was born in 1924 in Taunton, Massachusetts, to Marion and Alfred Taylor. She lived in Taunton until graduation from high school then moved to New York City to attend Juilliard School of Music.
While studying voice during war time, she was cleared to work within a unit of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services and forerunner of the CIA) in Rockefeller Center. She remembered being in Times Square on VE and VJ nights, the nights World War II ended with Germany and Japan.
She married Norman Dain In 1948 on his return from China where he had been with a documentary film crew. They then moved to Darien, Connecticut where their three daughters, Abigail, Sarah Elizabeth, and Nancy, were born. Subsequently, they moved to St. Louis, Missouri where Norman was an executive with an advertising agency. There, Bunny began a new career at Washington University Libraries, eventually being named "chief" of the Audio/Visual Department of John M. Olin Library. Taking early retirement, in 1980 they moved to Florence where they formed Dain Communications, a public relations/advertising agency. After Norman's death in 2002, Bunny continued with the agency for another five years.
Music, especially opera, was always of great importance to her. When asked once what to her was the most important thing in life, her reply was, "the relationships I've made" She treasured all those she formed throughout her long life.
She was preceded in death by her husband, her grandson Samuel, and daughters Sarah Elizabeth and Nancy. She is survived by her daughter Abigail Dain, her grandson Nathaniel Dain Zeller, and her son-in-law Michael Dain Smith.
Arrangements are in the care of Major Family Funeral Home in Springfield. Visit www.majorfamilyfuneralhome.com to share a memory.