Member of two pioneer business families, Pursel dies at 79

Monday, Oct. 16, 2000 | 10:13 a.m.

When Jack Pursel married Berniece Huntington on Aug. 27, 1942, it marked the merging of two prominent pioneering Las Vegas business families.

Many years after Berniece left the work force, she returned to serve as office manager for her husband's local law firm for 20 years until their retirement in 1995.

Berniece died Friday following a brief struggle with pancreatic cancer at Nathan Adelson Hospice. She was 79.

Services for the Southern Nevada resident of 63 years will be 2 p.m. Friday at the First Ward Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Eighth Street and Franklin Avenue. Visitation will be 5-8 p.m. Thursday at Palm Mortuary-Downtown and 1-2 p.m. Friday at the chapel. Burial will be at Palm Valley View Cemetery.

"We worked together closely, and I am grateful for all of the time I had with her," Jack Pursel said Friday, recalling not only his wife's secretarial and management skills but also her compassionate charitable deeds through the Mormon Church's Relief Society, where she assisted the needy.

Born June Berniece Huntington on July 8, 1921, in Logan, Utah, she was the eldest of three children of the former June Calder and Clifford Huntington, who from 1945 to 1960 operated Huntington's Children's Shop on Fifth Street -- now Las Vegas Boulevard -- and Gass Avenue. Her brother, Jack Huntington, owns Huntington Jewelers.

Jack Pursel is the son of the late J.W. Pursel, who long operated Shoe Town at Fifth Street and Oakey Boulevard, and brother of former Justice of the Peace Tom Pursel, retired insurance executive Bill Pursel, retired Rancho High School band director Richard Pursel and retired Las Vegas High English teacher Jeanne Chretien.

Berniece attended Las Vegas High in 1937, when her father was assistant manager of J.C. Penney on Fremont Street. The family moved to Caliente when her father was named manager of the Penney's store there. She graduated from Lincoln County High School in 1939 and attended Brigham Young University.

During the summer months Berniece returned to Las Vegas and worked as a secretary for the Las Vegas Credit Bureau and participated in local radio theater. It was during a production of the drama "Angel on a Leash" on KENO radio that she met fellow actor Jack. The romantic leads in the show began their real-life courtship.

During World War II he joined the Army Air Corps and became a pilot. They married at Roswell Air Force Base, N.M., just before he was sent to the South Pacific.

During the war Berniece returned to Caliente to live with her parents and work as a freight checker for the Union Pacific Railroad. After the war Jack enrolled at the University of Southern California, and the two worked together as janitors in Los Angeles to help put him through law school.

The couple returned to Las Vegas in 1950, where he passed the bar and went into practice. Berniece left the work force to become a mother and volunteer for the church. In 1975 Berniece returned to work as office manager for her husband's firm, Pursel Professional Corp.

In later years she concentrated on her arts and crafts, which included designing floral arrangement centerpieces, counter cross-stitch and china painting. Berniece also served as an LDS Primary president and as a teacher in the Beehive class for girls.

In addition to her husband and brother, she is survived by two sons, Paul Pursel and Mark Pursel, both of Las Vegas; two daughters, Anne Kunde of St. George, Utah, and Mary Kay Mendenhall of Las Vegas; a sister, Barbara White of Las Vegas; 11 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Donations can be made in Berniece Pursel's memory to the LDS Missionary Fund or the American Cancer Society.