Bernie's Blankets

The story of how we create the blankets for our Brave Bags, as told by Bernie's husband, Jim.

Bernie Miller’s life story is in many ways one of happiness and success. She

loved growing up in the small town, graduated from Indiana University with a degree in medical records technology and held positions in Parkview’s marketing department and the Parkview Foundation.

Bernie was active in civic organizations. She started the innovative Fort Wayne

Learning Exchange in the 1970s. Always creative, she was a photographer, audiovisual

producer, and a well-regarded fabric artist. She was known to be gracious and caring,

a joy to be around.

Her life, however, had its challenges. She developed scoliosis as a teenager, had

nine vertebrae surgically fused, and was in a full body cast for a long time. Although

this limited her physically, Bernie hid its effects quietly. In middle age she battled

serious breast cancer. Various other surgeries limited her still more. In later life she

was often in pain. Macular degeneration took away much of her eyesight. In her mid-

80s she fell and fractured a cervical vertebrae, sentencing her to a neck brace for the

rest of her life. Through it all, she almost never complained.

With her eyesight compromised, she had to stop creating her artistic wall

hangings. She had difficulty just watching TV. She could not safely go out by herself.

As her world closed in, something serendipitous happened. She and I were introduced

to Jama Ross, who was adding the Brave Bags project to the work of

Blessings in a Backpack. In our apartment, she explained they needed handmade

security blankets as an important part of each bag.

So it began.

We learned as we went. True, what Bernie could see and do was

limited. But if someone bought and cut the fabric, she could knot the 210 strips

bordering each blanket like nobody’s business. Soon we were buying fleece by the

bolt. We would sit facing one another, creating bright, child-themed designs, most

afternoons and evenings. We listened to audiobooks as we did this, and favorite music.

We conversed. Sometimes we simply enjoyed the silence we shared.

Children and grandchildren dropped by and we would find plenty to talk and laugh about, as fingers deftly tied knots, one after another.

Bernie took pride in being able to do something for others, especially children.

She had always loved running her fingers over fabric, and now she could unite the

work of her hands with her desire to provide comfort and security to children in need.

She would never see them, nor would they ever know who she was, but that didn’t

matter. What mattered was that tangible signs of love were created by hand, one

blanket at a time.

Bernie was able to do this work up until about two weeks before she died, having created over 300 blankets by her hands.

Since her death, an informal group of like-minded souls, calling themselves

Friends of Bernie, have committed themselves to carrying on her work. They agreed

to put together 500 blankets over a one-year period, beginning April 1, 2026, for

Blessings in a Backpack. When they learned the number of children in crisis was

greater than anticipated, they agreed to increase that goal to 750, including raising the

funds to purchase all the necessary fabric and supplies.

Truth be told, Bernie would be very shy about having a program named after

her. But she would be pleased to know that young lives are being comforted and

affirmed when they need it most. She would be gratified to know that her legacy lives

on.