Bernice Pope

Bernice Pope was born in Carrier Mills, Illinois, on November 18, 1920, the third daughter of Earl "Bud", a coal miner, and Ruthenia Chavous Russell, a homemaker. She attended the rural Lake View Elementary School, the same grade school her mother and brothers attended. After high school graduation, she attended the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana Campus on a scholarship and with the help of her brothers. While there, Bernice met and married George L. Pope. During WW II, while George served in the Army, she taught at the Lake View School in Carrier Mills, Illinois. After his discharge, they moved to Boley, Oklahoma, where she taught for a few years.

They later moved back to Champaign where she now lives. Bernice joined the teaching staff at the Willard School, then on to the Booker T. Washington School, where she taught for several years. Her last site was the Bottenfield School where she remained until retirement. Since retirement, Bernice has tutored at Douglass Center, her church and the Unit #4 School District. She is very interested in the advancement and academic achievement of children in school and church. She feels tutoring provides the possibility of greater achievements by her students.

She is the proud parent of two sons and grandparent of two granddaughters, both of whom are in education.

Bernice has been a member of the Bethel A.M.E. Church for more than fifty years. She teaches Sunday School and was Church Treasurer for 30 years. She has been on the Board of the County Blood Bank for ten years and a donor for twenty plus years.