The family of the late Edith L. Bornn, 87, has announced that services will be held at 10 a.m., Monday, June 14, at All Saints Cathedral Church, Garden Street, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, followed by interment at Western Cemetery.
Mrs. Bornn, whose strong voice had been silenced in recent years as she battled Alzheimer’s, passed peacefully on Friday, June 4, at Roy L. Schneider Regional Medical Center on St. Thomas. Attorney Bornn will be remembered as a passionate community activist, an advocate for children and families, a committed environmentalist, a leader in local and regional politics, and as an exceptional Virgin Islands matriarch of the local Bar, who blazed trails in numerous fields beginning in her earliest days.
Born on St. Thomas on Aug. 30, 1922, Mrs. Bornn attended Charlotte Amalie High School before enrolling in Barnard College with her sister, Angela. She went on to attend Columbia University Law School, graduating in 1948, passed the New York State Bar, and immediately thereafter, went to work for the Caribbean Commission. Edith Bornn met and married Andrew Bornn, a distant cousin, while working in Trinidad for the Caribbean Commission in 1951. Andrew Bornn passed in 2000. They made their home on St. Thomas where Mrs. Bornn served as a U.S. District Court law clerk to District Court Judge Herman E. Moore before opening her own law firm with William Cox, as the first woman attorney in private practice in the territory, partnering with numerous attorneys over the years.
She is survived her sons: David, Steven and Michael; sister, Angela Bornn Bacher; daughter-in-law, Brigitte Bornn; and grandchildren: Richard Lazarus, Marissa M. Bornn and Andrew M. Bornn. In addition, she is survived by nieces: Judith Bacher, Margaret Attale-Rapier, Joan Brenda Amoroso-Centeno-Huffman, Christine Salazar-Gonzales, Elizabeth Harris-Lee Yen, Helen Harris-Lee Chong and Janice Harris-Murphy; nephews: Edward Bacher, Kenrick Attale, David Attale, Stanley Amoroso-Centeno, Anthony Amoroso-Centeno and Jeffrey Smith; cousins: Nina Corneiro, Mona Corneiro, Patricia Helding and countless more in Trinidad, not to mention a large extended family and close friends she fondly called “family.”
Viewing is scheduled to be held from 5-7:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 13, at Davis Funeral Home. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Kidscope, Family Resource Center, Environmental Association of St. Thomas, League of Women Voters of the Virgin Islands and/or National Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org)
