| Bernice Henley: Lady of many talents By Charles Roberts, Editor, Highland Community News  | | On the job as a sheriff’s service specialist, Bernice Henley stands beside a patrol car at the Highland Police Department. | You might recognize her as the Easter Bunny, having fun on the streets of Highland at Easter time.
You may have seen her as the turkey at Thanksgiving.
Others see her in full uniform directing traffic at the scene of a crime or accident.
Over a hundred kids see her as soccer coach and team player.
And her big concentration is on helping people, passing out Christmas gifts and clothing at Christmas time, delivering Thanksgiving baskets, and serving the needy in many other ways throughout the year.
“We have diapers and other emergency supplies,” she said, and she also serves as interpreter and assists the Hispanic community with help in dealing with bureaucracies and institutions. Helping others came naturally to her, she said, recalling that her mother would always have food for the poor at a restaurant she operated on Mount Vernon Street in San Bernardino.
“The Northridge earthquake was the first project I knew there was a need, so the whole family started collecting blankets and toiletries for earthquake victims,” she said. While working at the Rialto Police Department, she organized the Hearts to Share program, depending on law enforcement agencies and employees to contribute to help the less fortunate.
That program carried over into the Highland Police Department where she came to work as a sheriff's specialist six years ago.
“We don't have any big organizations,” she said, “just mostly citizens and law enforcement families. There's a huge need out there and so many people close their eyes or turn their back on it.”
Her service has evolved to include Operation Santa Claus, which was primarily a program by the Kiwanis Club of Highland and the Highland Woman's Club.
She has just joined the new Noon Kiwanis in Highland, primarily to get better coordination among the various organizations in Operation Santa Claus.
Her soccer club began about two years ago when she organized a team of kids who had been playing in the street and had been the subject of several calls for police service.
Two teams of 12 year olds have now grown to over 100 kids and up to 50 adults in 10 teams that practice at Highland Community Park and play at the Inland Empire Soccer Association “because AYSO is too expensive.”
The teams practice on Mondays and Friday from 6-8 p.m.
Equipment and uniforms are always a problem, since most of the participants do not have money to pay for their own uniforms, soccer balls, etc.
“If we could get goals, we could play here in Highland,” she said.
The Noon Kiwanis Club is considering taking on the soccer league as a project and may provide those goals.
Bernice began Life as a “military brat” in El Paso, Texas where her Navy father and her mother met and married. After following the military, the family settled in Fontana where she attended middle school and high school, graduating in 1980.
She got a softball scholarship to Cal State Fullerton, but decided on an entertainment career, recording a couple of Spanish CDs and actually moving to Mexico for a time to pursue her singing career.
She returned to Fontana in 1986 and got into law enforcement, first at the Fontana Police Department and then at the Rialto Police Department before landing her current position at the Highland Police Department.
“I love the station and love the city,” she said.
She has four children: Ruby Cardenas, 21, who is a dispatcher for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, following in Mom's footsteps; Brooke Perez, 16, at Redlands East Valley High School; Ryan Perez, 14, a student at Beattie Middle School; and Adam Perez, 6, a student at Highland Grove Elementary School.
Bernice volunteers at Highland Grove and at Beattie Middle School on her Fridays off from her law enforcement job.
Retirement? That's a possibility, if she can find the right lighthouse. Her dream is to live in a lighthouse, and she collects lighthouses.
However, retirement is not in the immediate future. Her days are filled with service to others, and she likes it that way.
“I don't know how to watch TV without doing something,” she said. “I'll be cooking or ironing or something. It's very rare you will see me just sitting on the couch.”
Her inspiration comes from her family -- her mother who used to provide food for the poor and her father who ran the food bank at Kaiser Steel when it closed.
“That's where I first learned about collecting food,” she said.
She also sees Oprah as her hero and inspiration. And “CSI” and “Cops.”
Her vivacious personality and quick sense of humor can brighten any room. And some day, she can light up a lighthouse, and maybe have someone to serve her for a change. |
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