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Bonnie was born on March 25, 1939, in a private home near Karlstad, Minnesota to Harold Oliver Torkelson and Eleanor Mary Torkelson (Emerson). She was the third of five daughters. The first, Beverly, was stillborn.
After graduating from Karlstad High School, Bonnie attended Mayville Teacher’s college in North Dakota. In 1959, while pursuing her teaching credential she met William Feeney, the dashing young principal of the high school in Mayville. After a whirlwind courtship, they were married on Dec. 19 of that same year.
While still in Mayville, Bonnie gave birth to their first child, a daughter, Kathryn Jane, on Jan. 3, 1961. The following year, she gave birth to a son, John William, on Feb. 18, 1962, in Karlstad, Minnesota.
Later that same year, the young family packed up and moved cross country to Esparto, California, a small town in the Capay Valley near Sacramento, where William had accepted an offer to teach math and science at Esparto High School.
They settled into a small ranch house in an almond orchard just outside of the town. The following year, Bonnie gave birth to her third child, a daughter, Susan Deborah, on Aug. 14, 1963. A couple of years later, they bought their first house in the town of Esparto, a newly built ranch style home on Madison Street.
Bonnie and Bill spent many idyllic years together in Esparto, raising their family. They loved small town life, with its focus on family and community. She was later to recall these years as her happiest.
When the children were a little older, Bonnie went back to college to complete her bachelor’s degree at Sacramento State University. She began teaching at Esparto Elementary, as a substitute teacher, then full time as a fourth grade teacher before becoming a second grade teacher, the age she found she enjoyed the most.
For Bonnie, teaching was a true vocation. She poured her energy and her love into her classroom and her students. She was warm, patient, nurturing, fun loving and much beloved by her students.
In 1977, the family relocated to Lake County. William graduated from law school and set up a practice in Lakeport. In September of that year, Bonnie gave birth to her fourth and final child, Daniel Dominic.
After a few years at home, she resumed teaching, this time as a first/second grade teacher at Kelseyville Elementary, until her retirement in 2004. She loved her time at Kelseyville and her many close friends and colleagues.
Bonnie’s greatest joy and focus was her family. Her 65-year marriage to William, the love of her life, was one of her most profound accomplishments.
She is survived by William, 92; three of her children, Kathryn Douglas of Los Angeles, John Feeney of Lakeport, and Daniel Feeney of Lakeport.
Her beloved daughter Susan Feeney, a former attorney in Lakeport, preceded her in death in 2018.
She is also survived by three of her sisters, Sandra Merrill of Stockton, Maryland; Beverly Everson of Grand Forks, North Dakota; and Susan Torkelson Olson of Minneapolis, Minnesota; three grandchildren, Adam Harold Feeney of Woodland Hills, California, Noah Kalani Yuen of Maui, Hawaii, Makana Ellen Yuen of Lakeport; one great-grandson, Kellan Nathanael Coakley of Lakeport; along with many much loved first cousins, nieces and nephews.
All who knew Bonnie were touched and richly blessed by her presence in their lives. Her calm demeanor, her quiet wisdom, her stoicism, her sense of fun, and her endless, selfless, tireless support for those nearest to her were the foundation and very bedrock of our lives.
We honor and celebrate her life, a life beautifully and flawlessly lived. She leaves an unfillable void. But our admiration and love for her is infinite. As stated in the Song of Songs, love is stronger than death. May God bless and keep her close until we all meet again.
Funeral service will be held at United Christian Parish in Lakeport on Thursday, April 24, at noon with interment to follow at St. Mary’s Cemetery.
Arrangements by Chapel of the Lakes Mortuary, 707-263-0357 or 707-994-5611, or visit www.chapelofthelakes.com.
