Bernard Carl Welch, age 71, died after an extended illness at his home, 20660 Welch Lane, Venango Township, Crawford County, PA on Thursday, March 28, 2013. The son of the late Edwin Welch and Virginia Boyer Welch, he was born in Erie on May 14, 1941 and lived all of his life in Venango Township. He graduated from Cambridge Springs High School in the Class of 1959 and then entered the US Air Force. He served there for eight years as a bomb navigator with the Strategic Air Command until 1968. Returning home he was employed by Saegertown Components until 1975. He then became a dairy farmer which he was actively engaged until the present.

Surviving Bernard are two daughters – Julie Anne Johnson and her husband, Tim; Pamela Jane Griffin; and a son – Randall Carl Welch and his wife, Tammy, all living in Macon, GA. Also surviving are seven grandchildren – Stephanie Freed, Beth Futrell, Tony Griffin, Jr., Steven Griffin, Danielle Ayers, Tristan Welch, and Morgan Welch. In addition, surviving are eight great grandchildren; a sister – Myra Granat of Cambridge Springs; and several nieces and nephews. Bernard was preceded in death by a son – Kevin Carl Welch who died in 1996 and a brother – Ed Welch who died in 2009.

Friends may call at the Van Matre Family Funeral Home in Cambridge Springs on Monday from 9:00 a.m. until the time of the funeral service to be held at 10:00. Interment will be in Venango Cemetery.