BERNADETTE O’DELL April 8,1955 – August 14, 2025

BERNADETTE O’DELL

April 8,1955 – August 14, 2025

Bernadette O’Dell, my wife of 22 years & partner for 33 years, passed away on August 14 from pancreatic cancer with me at her bedside.  This is the only public announcement that will be made & her FB page will be deleted in the near future.

Born in Chicago, she was Polish-American; her mother having immigrated to the U.S. after WWII. Bernadette had a long and varied career which included many years working in the arts and photography business.  Prior to working in photography, Bernadette worked as an executive at national accounting firm, was a commodities broker, she worked in IT in cable TV and internet marketing and various other jobs.  I met her when she was managing the Houston office of The Image Bank back in the early 1990s.  We became best friends, partners and had a great many adventures together.  She is predeceased by her father George, mother Wanda and younger sister, Diane.  She’s survived by her other sister, Alice, and probably her ex-husband.

She fell ill in July of 2024, first receiving a misdiagnosis of terminal liver cancer from an incompetent and careless doctor (who I shouldn’t name because he’d probably sue) at YRMC, giving her six weeks to live in July 2024.  His misdiagnosis was cruel, unprofessional and completely wrong.  After ten more months of misdiagnosis, mistreatment, hospital incompetence, one major surgery, a half-dozen endoscopic procedures and other horrors, she was finally properly diagnosed after almost a year.  After witnessing the deaths of three family members from the effects of chemotherapy, she refused it for herself and ultimately succumbed a few days ago. 

I wish to extend my deepest gratitude and thanks to everyone at Maggie’s Hospice who took such fine care of Bernadette, keeping her comfortable during her final days; I’ve never met such compassionate & caring people.  Without their help & professionalism I don’t know how I would have coped.  Thank you all!  No thanks to anyone at Yavapai Regional Medical Center.

Bernadette made me a better person & my life would have been smaller without her.  As I process the grief of this loss I ask for quiet & solitude.  If anyone wishes to reach out, please do so through messenger, email, text or phone –I will not be communicating via public, social media platforms.

 

Thank you, Dale O’Dell, Widower