BIRD

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Monday, July 16, 2007 at 04:53:45 :

Marin Independent Journal
Tuesday, February 13, 1990
Section B, page 2

BERNARD J. BIRD
Kitchen designer

Bernard Johnson “Barney” Bird of Larkspur, a prominent kitchen designer, died Friday, Feb. 9, 1990, at Fort Miley Veterans Administration Hospital in San Francisco after a long illness. He was 80.

He was born and raised in Snohomish, Wash.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington, where he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta.

Mr. Bird was a World War II veteran.

He was a kitchen designer in New York, Dallas and the Bay Area.

He probably was the most published kitchen designer of the last 30 years, according to his wife, Sandra Bird of Larkspur, his design partner.

Kitchens he designed were included in four Marin designer showcases.

A kitchen he designed while in the hospital was featured in an issue of Better Homes and Garden.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, not a month went by when his kitchens weren’t published in a national magazine, Mrs. Bird said.

She said the couple were just bidding on building their own kitchen and house.

Mr. Bird moved to Larkspur in 1977 to retire. He met Sandra, who operates Sandra Bird Custom Kitchens, and the couple later married.

Besides his wife, Mr. Bird is survived by two daughters, Patti Bird of St. Louis, Mo., and Michelle Bird of San Francisco; two sons, C. J. Bird of Dallas and Bill Bird of Baton Rouge, La.; two brothers, Joseph Bird of Wallport, Ore., and Ed Bird of Oxnard; and seven grandchildren.

Friends are invited to attend the funeral liturgy at 1 p.m. today at Chapel of Valente-Marini-Perata & Co., 4840 Mission St., San Francisco.

In lieu of flowers, the family prefers contributions to the Northern California Institute for Research and Education at Fort Miley Veterans Administration Medical Center, 4150 Clement St., San Francisco.