Berner

Candice Diana Berner, 32, formerly of Grove City and Slippery Rock, who lived in Perryville, Alaska, since August 2009, died about 6 p.m. March 8 in the Alaska Peninsula village of Chignik Lake.

Born in Pittsburgh, April 16, 1977, she was the daughter of Robert A. Berner and Diana I. Dimen Berner.

Candice was a special education teacher in Lake and Peninsula School District in Perryville where she taught since August 2009. Previously, she taught for two years at the Mardan Center for Educational Therapy in Irvin, Calif., and for three years as a secondary resource specialist with students from Hispanic backgrounds at the Alvord Unified School District in Riverside, Calif.

She was a member of the Church of the Beloved Disciple, Grove City.

Candice, a 1996 graduate of Grove City High School, received her Bachelor of Science degree in elementary and special education from Slippery Rock University, Class of 2000, and received her master's degree in special education from SRU in 2008.

During her youth, Candice participated in gymnastics, T-ball and baseball and eventually competed in gymnastics at the state level. During middle school, she participated in the wrestling program in Grove City. Candice was a power lifter and competed in events at the local and national levels. She participated and enjoyed Golden Glove Boxing in California and in Pennsylvania, where she trained locally in the Jack Maine Boxing Facility in Ellwood City. She ran her first marathon in Coudersport, Pa., last summer and was training for a half marathon in Alaska.

During her sixth grade school year, she was in the play "Our Town," which was part of the Grove City Bicentennial.

Candice enjoyed camping, all kinds of sports and had a concern for the welfare of animals. She had a generous heart and was frequently helping others and doing concrete things for them. Candice had a special relationship with her brothers and valued and enjoyed the time she spent with them.

Surviving are her mother, Diana I. Berner of Grove City; her father, Robert A Berner and his wife, Janine, of Slippery Rock; and two brothers, Trent R. Berner of Carlsbad, Calif., and Radley A. Berner of Riverside, Calif. Several aunts, uncles and cousins survive here and in Canada.

She was preceded in death by her grandparents, an infant brother and an infant sister.

<B>BERNER</B> — Visitation for Candice Diana Berner, who died Monday, March 8, 2010, will be from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the <B>Cunningham Funeral Home</B>, 306 Bessemer Ave., Grove City. A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at the Church of the Beloved Disciple, 1310 S. Center St., Grove City, with the Rev. Father Mark Hoffman as celebrant. Burial will be at the Center Church Cemetery, Pine Township, Mercer County.In lieu of flowers, memorial tributes may be made in Candice's memory to the Alaskan Village Children Fund, c/o Grove City Federal Credit Union, 1 Credit Union Way, Grove City, PA 16127; or to the Butler County Humane Society, 1015 Evans City Road, Renfrew, PA 16053.