Woodstock, Vermont

Bernadette M. Darakjy, 85, died on Saturday March 26th, at the Jack Byrne  Center at DHMC in Lebanon, New Hampshire.  Bernadette was born on August 4th, 1936 in Brooklyn, New York, the fourth of five children born to Irish Immigrants. She spent an idyllic childhood playing stickball, drinking egg creams while listening to barbershop quartets at the candy store and rooting for the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbetts Field. Bernadette attended Catherine Mc Auley High School before getting her nursing degree  from Mary Immaculate Hospital School of Nursing. She later earned her BS from Hunter College - CUNY and her Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.

After losing both of her parents by the age of 21, Bernadette joined the Maryknoll Sisters and spent several years working with them in the Philippines spurring her love for community and interest in public health nursing.  In the late 1960s, Bernadette returned to Manhattan and worked as a visiting nurse in Harlem. She met her husband  David on a blind date at Chumley's restaurant at the age of 37. She and David lived together in Floral Park with David's children Brian, Dawn and David before welcoming Kate and Meg into the family.

In 1985, David and Bernadette moved to Barnard, Vermont and opened the Barnard Guest House which hosted visitors from all over the world. After completing a refresher course in nursing in her mid-fifties she worked as a visiting nurse, a school nurse, a dental assistant and at the Ottauquechee Health Center. When David had a debilitating stroke in 2011, Bernadette was promoted to her favorite position as his "personal nurse".

Bernadette was so much fun. She loved taking walks and meeting new people and was pretty much game for anything. Bernadette would participate in any activity with joy and adventure, regardless of skill level required, and could never get enough of the outdoors. Her last canoe ride was on her 85th birthday and she never stopped taking daily walks. Bernadette loved her community at Our Lady of the Snows church and in the Woodstock area.  Bernadette was fearless and lived life with fervor. We are all better for knowing her and she will be missed. See ya later, crocodile.

A Mass of Christian burial will be held on Saturday April 9, 2022 at 1:00pm at Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church in Woodstock, VT