Bernice Johnson Gildow, 86, died Dec. 21, 2002, at Grace Manor in Clinton as the result of a stroke on Sept. 27, 2000.

She was born April 8, 1916, in Milnor, N.D., and later moved with her parents to Minnesota.

She moved to Whidbey Island in the early 1940s. She married Edward Johnson Dec. 12, 1943, in Langley. They lived on Shore Meadows Road, Freeland. He died in 1958.

She was employed as a nurse’s aide at White Acres Nursing Home in Freeland for 11 years.

She met Herbert Gildow and they were married March 26, 1970, at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Clinton. She was a member of the Grange, Rebbeca’s, The Daughters of Norway and attended Trinity Lutheran Church.

She was preceded in death by her first husband, Edward Johnson; her second husband, Herbert Gildow; a sister, Florence Haug; and a brother Gordon Bjorndal.

She is survived by a sister, Nora Josephson, of Freeland; a brother, Stenword Bjorndal of Granite Falls, Minn.; four children, Beverly Schwiger and her husband, Ronald, of Chugiak, Alaska, Janice Quade of Clinton, Liz Sherman and her husband, Dale, of Coupeville, and Ellsworth Johnson and his wife, Kathy, of Ruebens, Idaho; 16 grandchildren; 24 great-grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.

A graveside service will be at 1 p.m. today at the Bayview Cemetery. A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Trinity Lutheran Church, Freeland, with the Rev. Jim Lindus officiating.