Bernard Vanasse, 85 of New Bedford passed away on Monday, March 31 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.
Mr. Vanasse -- known as "Chinky" in his schooldays, as a result of a skirmish with a neighborhood Chow dog of the same name -- was termed "one of the finest hoopmen and floormen ever to come out of the schoolboy ranks in New Bedford" by Standard-Times sports editor George Patzer in 1941. He played football and baseball at Holy Family High School, but saw his greatest schoolboy successes as captain of a team this newspaper later described as "a basketball-playing band of Lilliputians in sneakers and short pants." The team saw postseason play for the first time in school history, winning two league championships and the 1940 division tournament. At only 18 -- younger than many of his players -- Mr. Vanasse coached his Sacred Heart Parish team to the 1941 CYO and Diocesan championships. He was recruited by St. Bonaventure University, but turned down a basketball scholarship when drafted by the U.S. Army.
In World War II, Mr. Vanasse served as a heavy machine gunner in the Rhineland campaign, the final victory over Nazi Germany. He led a section of 14 men, and commanded two machine gun squads. After V-E Day, he moved to the Pacific Theater, and following V-J Day, served among the forces occupying Japan. He was injured in the war, honorably discharged with a service-connected disability.
After the war, Mr. Vanasse graduated from college, where he was a member of the Phi Psi fraternity and married his wife, Gladys, a fellow alumnus of Holy Family. He began his career in textile engineering in New York City. The couple returned to New Bedford in the 1950s, when Mr. Vanasse joined Berkshire-Hathaway, where he was employed for over 25 years. For several years in the 1970s, he worked once again in New York City as Berkshire-Hathaway's liaison between their New Bedford-based product development division and their New York sales group. He retired from The Worcester Company in Providence, Rhode Island, where he worked for nearly a decade as a new product design consultant.
Mr. Vanasse won numerous regional golf and bowling championships in the 1960s, and was a member of the Whaling City Country Club and later the Country Club of New Bedford.
He is survived by his wife Gladys (Souza) Vanasse of New Bedford and his son Robert Bernard Vanasse of Washington, DC, as well as his brother Jean Paul Vanasse of Southwick, Massachusetts and his sisters, Marietta Vanasse and Theresa (Vanasse) Tetrault, both of New Bedford.
He was the brother of the late Henry Vanasse, Joseph Vanasse, Florette Tremblay, Lorraine Gagnon, Lucien Vanasse, Rev. Herve Vanasse and Richard Vanasse.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made "In Memory of Bernard Vanasse" to The Flynn Fund, Boston College Athletics, Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467.
Family and friends are invited to attend his Funeral Mass to be celebrated by his godson and namesake, Rev. Bernard Vanasse, at noon on Saturday, April 5, which would have been Mr. Vanasse's 86th birthday. The Mass will be celebrated at Saint Lawrence Martyr Church in New Bedford.