ST. GEORGE - Bernice Tyler Jamison, age 89, passed away at home on Wednesday, August 31, 2005, in St. George, Utah, after many years of ill health. She was born on August 14, 1916, in Bisbee, Arizona, to James Rue and Leona Douglass Tyler, the first of four children. She lived in Arizona for the first six years of her life before moving with her family to southern California. In 1928 her father organized a banjo band called Rue Tyler's Rhythm Kids. For the next seven years Bernice played, accompanied, and helped rehearse the band, which performed at church socials, clubs, on the radio, at restaurants and at the 1932 World's Fair.
Bernice graduated from UCLA in 1938, with a degree in music. Serving in the LDS Church as a stake, district and regional music director for forty years, Bernice prepared choirs for stake, MIA and area conferences, music festivals, road shows, and musicals. She taught music at Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles for eighteen years and, in addition to her musical accomplishments, she brought several students into the church by her good example.
Bernice married Horace William Jamison on August 27, 1938, in Mar Vista, California, and they were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple August 11, 1939. She was devoted to her husband and family and loved to serve them and tell humorous stories about them.
Surviving family include her: three children, Lowell Tyler Jamison, of Glendale, CA, Janelle Leona Jamison Jarvis, of Provo, UT, and Kent Douglass Jamison, of St. George; 17 grandchildren; 24 great-grandchildren; one brother, James Rue Tyler, Jr., of Cedar City, UT; and two sisters, Eileen Tyler Dowling, of Provo, UT, and Donna Tyler Harris, of Granbury, TX. She is preceded in death by her husband.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, September 3, 2005, at 1:00 p.m. at the Bloomington 6th Ward Chapel, 3519 Manzanita Rd., St. George, UT. The family will gather for a family prayer in the Relief Society room at 12:30 p.m., prior to services. Interment will follow the services at the Tonaquint Cemetery. Arrangements are made under the direction of Spilsbury Mortuary, 110 S. Bluff St., St. George, (435) 673-2454. Friends and family are invited to offer their condolences at www.spilsburymortuary.com.
Originally published September 1, 2005