BERNATTE ANDREWS

A Kiss in December

I dated Bernadette Andrews for most of October 1976. She was beautiful, intelligent, and sexy, and I really enjoyed her company. We hit it off immediately. I wouldn't call it love, but I was extremely attracted and wanted to see more of her.

However, Bernadette was a very dedicated and busy person, writing about art shows and local entertainment for the Toronto Star. She also contributed articles to Arts Canada and did some radio work. It was a prime time for my after-hours club, so I was busy too, and we often found ourselves on opposite sides of the clock. We had no commitments, and I hadn't seen her for a week or two.

One night, I ran into her at Club 22. She gave me one long, passionate tongue kiss, complete with all the trimmings. We promised to get together soon, yet weeks went by without any reunion. Then, out of the blue, I got a call from her friend. Bernadette had taken ill and was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. She died shortly after due to some obscure virus. I was shocked and saddened and felt unsure of her family situation, so I didn't attend her funeral.

There is no telling what could have been, and there were many complications. But I knew from her friend Joanne that Bernadette was very interested in me, and we had the beginnings of a serious relationship. 

Just before Christmas, I joined Murray MacLauchlan on a month-long sailboat charter in the Bahamas. About the third week, I took very sick with a raging fever and lost 15 lbs, confined to my bunk. As you can imagine, I thought a lot about poor Bernadette and that big kiss. Could this mean the end for me too?

We were in the Out Islands, and it took nearly a week to get back to Nassau. Murray took me to the hospital, where they diagnosed me with tonsillitis. Murray took me directly to the airport and put me on a plane to Toronto. I went straight to the hospital there and was diagnosed with a serious case of mononucleosis. It took almost six months to recover from it.

To this day, I think of Bernie often, of what could have been, and of the tragic ending to such a beautiful young lady. She was a very special person, and that one kiss in December lingers in my memory, a poignant reminder of the fragility and unpredictability of life.

 OBIT

BERNADETTE ANDREWS

Star Fearure Writer

The music industry was shocked to learn of the sudden death of the Toronto Star feature

writer Bernadette Andrews who succumbed to a to asudden illness, Nov 19, at the age of 33.

Ms. Andrews became a much-needed friend  to the music industry while working the

entertainment beat with the Toronto  Telegram until the paper closed in 1971 

She was co-host of CBC-TV's The Morning  After show from 1969 to 1971 and later

worked as a music publicist before joining the Star in 1973. Although relegated to 

covering social and. interior nows for the Star, Bernadette also kept close tabs on the 

Canadian entertainment scene and was a welcome guest to all music industry functions. 

Her value to the Star and her obvious loss can best be summed up by the paper’s 

tribute to her which read: “Her colleagues and friends will mourn her as a person with 

an aspiring ability to grab the very best from life. One of her great assets is a jounal-

ist was her infinite supply of contacts. If it was happening, Bemie knew where, when 

, and who would be there. (And she always knew the unlisted numbers). Her energy 

and curiosity were invaluable to the people

who worked with her as well as her friends” sisters Helen Burt and Delores Doyle and Bernadette is survived by her husband, brother Gregory.Christopher Dingle, their son, Tyler, 4, parents Stanley and Delores Andrews 

Bernadette was born and educated in, Toronto.