Bernadette Lesfloris Sealy

Bernadette came to the United States to live with her mother. She attended St. Pascal high school in Queens, New York. She started college at Queens College, where she met her husband to be. She transferred to Hunter College to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing. After graduating from Nursing school, she worked in hospitals in New York and here in Florida. She loved the area of critical care nursing.

After nine years of courtship, Bernadette married Carl Sealy on September 29th 1979. Today is their 44th wedding anniversary.

Bernadette had an interesting childhood. She would tell stories about the Nuns who were her school teachers at her Catholic School. Some of these stories and others, you might get to hear later. She attended carnival and activities at Christmas and other holidays.

Bernadette loved to read. With her iPad she could read even when the lights were turned off. She would read and study the Bible on her iPad. The death of Christ for our sins really disturbed her. She would cry thinking about that.

Bernadette also loved doing crossword puzzles. She would always have one or two that she saved from some paper or magazine in her purse to pass the time. She would do the one in the USA Today app on her iPad. She loved words and their meanings.

Bernadette loved to play scrabble. She played with her husband Carl all the time. After many years of losing just about every game, he quit playing!

Bernadette loved fresh coconut water which her husband would get from the farmer’s market on Saturday mornings. On one occasion, while she was hospitalized at Tampa General, he brought her a bottle of water, when she tasted it, a big smile filled her face. What a joy that must have been!

Bernadette loved fresh fruit, especially mangoes. She had a tree, and both her mother and mother-in-law each had a tree, which produced different varieties of Mangoes. Her mother’s mangoes were her favorite. While she was in-patient at Tampa General Hospital, it happened to be the mango season. Carl took her some mangoes; he got some goodie points for that!

Bernadette love to travel, especially cruising to the Caribbean. The family would visit St. Lucia, where she was born, and Barbados where Carl was born, where they visited friends and family.

Bernadette loved to watch the sun set. On occasions, she and Carl would go to San Key Park to watch sunsets. From her window at Morton Plant Hospital, she sent Carl a picture of a sunset with the caption “The heavens declare the Glory of God!”

Bernadette loved her granddaughters. She was there at their births in upstate New York and in Tallahassee. She was able to visit them more often when they moved to Tallahassee. Indeed, she loved all of her family members, and took exceptional care of them.

She will be missed but never forgotten!

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.sylvanabbey.com for the Sealy family.