Obituary Record

A memorial service will be conducted at 3 p.m. Tuesday, June 15 at All Saints Episcopal Church, Vancouver, Wash., for Max A. Berns, Jr., Captain, U. S. Navy (Retired) who died May 26, 1999, of cancer at age 81.

A longtime resident of Waveland, Captain Berns was born Nov 4, 1917 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was a 1939 graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md. After three years at sea he attended flight school and became a naval aviator in 1943. He served in the Navy for 30 years, including duty during World War II in the Atlantic and the Pacific. He retired from the military in 1969, having commanded aircraft squadrons, a carrier air wing and two shiips, including the carrier USS Randolph (CVS-15), recovery ship for the historic orbital flight of astronaut John Glenn. Captain Berns lived in Norfolk, Va. For the next five years then settled in Waveland until 1997. He moved to Vancouver, Wash. In 1997 to be near daughter Suzy and her husband John, both former Bay-Waveland residents, and their three children.

In 1942 he married the former Virginia Elizabeth Ratenburg of New Orleans, who predeceased him in 1995. Following many years of living at duty assignments locales throughout the U. S. And Europe as a military family, Max and Ginny Berns settled in Waveland in 1975.

Waveland had also been the longtime home of Ginny Berns' parents, the late Herbert and Jeanette Ratenburg.

Capt. Berns was an accomplished pianist and spoke several foreign languages. He was active in Christ Episcopal Church, the Roary Club, Bay St. Louis Little Theater and the New Orleans Saints Quarterback Club. In the 1970's Berns was the Hancock County Chamber of Commerce executive director.

Survivors includ three daughters, Judy Jean Berns of Los Angeles, Calif.; Susan Jane Dougher of Vancouver, Wash.; and Barbara Ann Dunbar of Houston, Texas; son Thomas H. Berns of Corte Madera, Calif.; and six grandchildren, Jeff, Lauren and Allison Dougher, Jenny Berns and Parker and Elizabeth Dunbar.

Captain Berns will be buried at sea by the U. S. Navy with military honors.

Source: Sea Coast Echo 6-3-1999