Bernice Irene Pederson, loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt and friend passed away peacefully on Thursday, August 13, 2026, at the St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Bernice leaves behind her daughter, Daphne Semeniuk (Albert Sawatzky) and her son Daniel Semeniuk (Anna). Remembering their grandma with love are her five grandchildren, Eric (Nicole), Elton, Tara, Olivia and Cody and two great-grandchildren, Hailey and Holly. She is also survived by her sisters-in-law, Lorraine Pederson and Marilyn Pederson, and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her son Leonard, parents, Peter and Ingaborg Pederson, her siblings, Clara, Parnell, Palmer, Ivan, Maurice, Joyce, Grace, and Lloyd, and her former husband John Semeniuk.

Bernice was born on September 11, 1940, in Vita, Manitoba. She grew up in the Menisino area. In 1961 she began her life as a wife and mother spending years in Ontario while our father worked in various bush camps. In 1967, Menisino became the permanent family home. During the years in Menisino, Bernice had many different jobs. She worked in the sewing factories in Steinbach, planted trees, picked eggs at the egg farm and as a waitress at the Piney restaurant. Her last job, and by all accounts her favourite, was as a school bus driver for the Boundary/Borderland School Division for 24 years.

Between being a farm wife and mother, Bernice found time to do many other things. She loved spending time with family and friends listening to and dancing to old time music. She took up hair dressing, drawing and painting and loved to sew. She was an expert at making hunting suits for our dad and Daniel and she loved sewing Halloween costumes for us and herself.

An especially favourite pastime was attending the community bingos throughout the Piney and Stuartburn municipalities. This allowed her to do what she did best, make life-long connections and friendships with people everywhere in the southeast. For our mom, it wasn’t about the winning, it was about visiting with the people she knew and the new friends she made.

After her retirement from driving school bus, she moved to Winnipeg and settled comfortably into being a city gal. She remained in that same apartment, living independently with minimal support, until her passing.

Her family is forever grateful for the kindness and care shown to Bernice by the staff of the 2B Unit at the St. Boniface Hospital during her many years of monthly treatments for her myasthenia gravis and the Cardiac Clinic during her recent diagnosis of heart failure. Thank you to the staff at St. Boniface Emergency Department and ICMS (ICU) for their compassion and support while she was in her end of life journey. We would also like to thank Dr. T. Luk for his 37 years of care of our mother. Their visits often were more about talking about people from the southeast or about how members of her family were. His ongoing exceptional care for her made it possible for her to live independently.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Friday, September 4, 2026, at Birchwood Funeral Chapel at 162 PTH 52 W, Steinbach, Manitoba at 11:00 a.m. An interment will be held at the Menisino Cemetery following the service.

Flowers are gratefully declined but the family would be honoured if donations are made in Bernice’s memory to the St. Boniface Hospital Foundation or the Vita Food Bank.

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