Bernice Williams is a prolific writer and chronicler of the lives and times of her family and their pets. A widow, and the mother of four adult children, grandmother of nine, great-grandmother of four, Bernice played a key role in the upbringing of Niki and TC, who lived with her daughter Jan and son-in-law Frank in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. When their two beloved pets died within five months of each other, she was greatly moved by the poem "The Rainbow Bridge." "Over the Rainbow Bridge" was born of her grief at losing these two animal friends and her desire to exonerate one from the seemingly "dishonourable discharge" that brought her magnificent life to an end.