Derek John Berns was born Sunday, November 4, 1973 in University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor as the first child of Darrel and Deborah (Pollock) Berns.

He graduated from high school in 1991 and attended Lansing Community College. He was employed by Erb Lumber Company in Lansing, Michigan.

Derek died at the age of 19 on January 2, 1993 and is buried at the Rath Cemetery in Raisinville Township, Monroe County.
 

My brother Derek was a high school athlete. He played baseball like my father Darrel. He was also on the high school football team.

In the early 1980s he performed at the Verlinden Elementary School talent show singing the song The Rhinestone Cowboy.

He was very intelligent in academics, sometimes he would skip classes to visit his girlfriends, friends, and do other things. He would show up the next day to his classes and ace his quizzes and tests. He was in the advanced and ap courses. He loved and was an excellent drawer and drawing.

He loved all boy things; go karts, bikes, motorized bikes, (like the motorcycles) , trucks, and jeeps. He was fashionable, and dressed nicely.

He loved jokes, being silly (like Lavern our grandfather)

He liked playing video games, and we had a video game console Colecovision from the early 80s. Derek and I like playing in the snow and going sledding with our dad Darrel