Breaux Bridge A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:00 am, on Saturday, June 7, 2014, at St. Bernard Catholic Church in Breaux Bridge, for Gloria Angelle Kern, 91, who passed away on Thursday, June 5, 2014.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed at the funeral home from 9:00 am until 9:00 pm on Friday and continue at 8:00 am until 9:30 am on Saturday. A rosary will be recited at 7:00 pm on Friday.
Rev. Paul Patin, S.J. will officiate at the Funeral Mass. Interment will follow at St. Bernard Cemetery No. 2 in Breaux Bridge.
Gloria was an elementary school teacher in St. Martin Parish Schools for over 22 years, during which time she became the first Special Education teacher in the parish. Following the loss of her vision in her mid-fifties, she dedicated herself to teaching blind children in the Lafayette Parish School System. She was also a founding member of Affiliated Blind of Louisiana.
After acknowledging and facing her own addiction to alcohol at the age of fifty-seven, Gloria became a Licensed Addiction Counselor and devoted the rest of her life to helping individuals and families entrenched in the disease of addiction discover the joy of sobriety. She was known around much of Acadiana as the little blind lady with white hair. In September 2006 Gloria was named as a Woman of Excellence by the Lafayette Commission on the Needs of Women and honored with the Founders Award.
At the age of eighty-four, she opened the Gloria Kern Center and served as Executive Director until 2012. With great reluctance, she retired the following year at the age of 90. Gloria remained a faithful friend of Bill W. for thirty-three years.
She is survived by her daughter, Karen Domingue and her husband, Danny; her sons, Jake Kern and his wife, Faye, Arthur Kern and his wife, Bobbie, and Drauzin Kern; her eight grandchildren; and her fifteen great grandchildren.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Robert and Madge Begnaud Angelle; her husband, Louis "Frere" Kern; her sons, Michael Kern and Thomas Kern; her grandson, Cye Kern; her granddaughter, Alexandra Domingue; her great grandson, Cye Baudoin; and her sisters, Joyce Doucet and Mavis Finley.
Pallbearers will be Glorias eight grandchildren, Raegan Domingue, Ryan Domingue, Robert Domingue, Renee Wood, Rachael LaLande, Jennifer LeBlanc, Cramer Kern, and Britlyn Kern.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations may be made to Affiliated Blind of Louisiana either online or by mail.
Pellerin Funeral Home of Breaux Bridge, 211 Berard St., Breaux Bridge, Louisiana 70517, (337-332-2111) is in charge of arrangements.
To view on-line obituary, sign guestbook and view video tribute, go to www.pellerinfuneralhome.com
