Bernard was born May 28, 1920, in Brewster, Nebraska, to Robert E. and Eleanor Jarvis Cox.
[1] Two marriages, to Robert E. Workman and to Rex E. Oberhansley, ended in divorce.
In 1972, she married Justice Court Judge Lynn (Bud) Bernard; the marriage lasted until his death in 1987.
She was a charter member of the Kearns Water & Sewer District Board, and the first woman to sit on the Salt Lake Planning and Zoning Commission, a seat that she held for 13 years.
[1] Bernard worked for fifteen years for EIMCO, a Salt Lake supplier of mining machinery; her tenure at EIMCO encompassed her ten years in the House.