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.
Bernice
Pope
)
denotes original charter members of the Champaign County Section
of the National Council of Negro Women.