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Patricia Ruth Bonnell
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July 8, 1932 ~ July 30, 2013 |
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July 30, 2013 |
 Patricia
Ruth Bonnell, 81, died peacefully on July 30,
2013, in Sandpoint, Idaho. Funeral Services will
be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, August 3,at The
Church of the Nazarene. Private interment will
be in Grandview Cemetery, Bonners Ferry.
She was preceded in death by her parents and is
survived by her sister, Martha Marie Bonnell, as
well as many family members and friends
throughout the world.
Pat was born in Miami, Florida, on July 8, 1932,
to Monroe John Bonnell and Ruth Esther Bonnell.
During her childhood, Pat lived in Alachua,
Florida, with her dad and stepmother, Big Pat.
She also lived near Asheville, North Carolina,
with her grandmother and mother, and then Mars
Hill, North Carolina, with her mother and
step-father, Vaughn Robinson.
Martha was her constant companion during those
days, in numerous activities such as swimming
lessons or walking around the farm. Says Martha
of her older sister, "Pat was my protector."
Pat excelled in school, and after graduating
from high school in Alachua went on to complete
her R.N. in 1953 at Southern Baptist Hospital in
New Orleans, Louisiana. She studied linguistics
and theology at John Brown University in Siloam
Springs, Arkansas, earning a B.A. in Biblical
Studies.
For 40 years, Pat served as a nurse, bookkeeper,
and childcare worker with Wycliffe Bible
Translators and the Summer Institute of
Linguistics. She lived in many diverse places--Buon
Jhat, Ban Me Thuot, Nha Trang, Kon Tum, Bukidnon,
Kota Kinabalu, and Singapore, among others--and
traveled extensively elsewhere as well.
During her time in Vietnam (1959-1975), Pat
attended to numerous public health needs,
helping to build clinics, preventing the spread
of tuberculosis, decreasing infant mortality,
and helping the victims of land mine,
principally among indigenous peoples displaced
by the war.
Her effective, calm nursing also played a role
in saving lives during a mortar attack at Khe
Sanh. She had a special heart for children. She
ended up adopting one such infant who was placed
in her care and named him Paul. They left
Vietnam in March of 1975.
Following several years in the Philippines and
Malaysia, Pat and Paul moved to Waxhaw, North
Carolina, in 1987. Pat lived there until 2008,
when she moved to Bonners Ferry, to live with
Paul, Rebecca, Ada, and Levi.
In 2012, Pat suffered a severe stroke,
necessitating her move to Life Care in
Sandpoint. During her last year, she appreciated
visits from family and friends, sitting on the
patio, listening to music by the aviary, and
participating in the Sunday afternoon church
service.
Throughout her life, Pat enjoyed tending
flowers, watching animals, sewing, preparing
meals, playing with children, listening to
music, singing, reading, and corresponding with
her many friends and family members.
She kept track of birthdays and special events,
surprising nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends
with cards of encouragement or books to read.
She celebrated growth, nature, beauty, and
creativity, starting orchids and other plants
from cuttings, swimming the side stroke in the
South China Sea, appreciating diverse languages
and people, and relishing moments of watching
her grandchildren play with Legos or draw. She
loved to put a puzzle together with her sister.
Although she lost all her personal belongings
more than once in her life, she was an
archivist, bringing family members blankets from
Kathmandu, jewelry from the highlands of
Vietnam, or musical instruments and baskets made
from bamboo. She took thousands of photographs,
documenting the many places she traveled and the
lives of the people whom she knew. She loved
sharing her experiences of the simple beauty in
the world. She liked to watch it snow. She
introduced friends to Vietnamese food. She
walked down the driveway to photograph the sun
on the mountains.
Some of Pat's many cherished Bible passages are
Proverbs 3: 5-6, Philippians 4:6-7, and John
3:16. Pat loved her Saviour, Jesus Christ, as
well as her neighbors, and she was loved and
will be missed by all who knew her.
Paul asks that anyone interested in gifts in
memorial of Pat direct them toward the Bru
Assistance Fund, which his mother supported. Bru
Assistance Fund, Wycliffe Bible Translators,
1-866-736-4387.
Family and friends are invited to sign Pat’s
book at
www.bonnersferryfuneralhome.com.
Arrangements are entrusted to the care of
Bonners Ferry Funeral Home. |
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