Bonnie Eloise Churchwell

Born Bonnie Eloise Fenley in Ransom, KS on January 8, 1941, Bonnie grew up on a farm near Alamota, Kansas. She enjoyed her farm animals and playing trombone in her high school’s pep band and dance band. She attended Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas and graduated with a business degree from Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma, where she met and married her husband, James Lewis Churchwell, in 1962. They moved to Rifle, Colorado in 1964 where three of their children were born. In 1968, they moved to Colfax, Washington where they were living when their fourth child was born. In 1971, the family moved to Spokane, Washington where husband Jim was the pastor of Jefferson Christian Church and Bonnie was a wife and mother. Bonnie worked in an elementary school then ran an in-home daycare for a few years until all her children were in school. Then she started working for the post office, first as a mail sorter, then as a window clerk.

In addition to working full-time and raising four kids, Bonnie and Jim always had a big garden; canning and freezing food for the winter. In summer, green beans climbed a trellis that provided shade on the south and west sides of the house and food through the coming year. Every fall, the family would place pears and tomatoes on newspapers spread on the floor of the basement to ripen. One year, the kids all picked tomatoes by flashlight to bring them in before an early frost. Driving into the mountains to enjoy nature and pick huckleberries was a summer-time favorite outing.

Bonnie enjoyed celebrating holidays and birthdays with homemade decorations and special food. Any neighborhood kid who came over at 3 pm got an afternoon treat such as homemade cookies, bread, popsicles, or cinnamon rolls. She made piñatas for birthdays that matched the home-made cake she decorated herself. Bonnie baked special Christmas breads for teachers, neighbors, and doctor’s offices she knew.

She always prepared for the future. Bonnie purchased comic books and puzzle gamepads to keep the children entertained on their long car trips to Kansas each summer. She brought paper and colored pens to church so her kids would be quiet during the sermon. Before her children were in school, Bonnie would mail recent snapshots of the kids to relatives with a list in the envelope so that people could sign up for copies and send the envelope to the next person on the list. She and Jim made arrangements and purchased an urn for her ashes years ago to be sure her passing was not burdensome to her family.

Bonnie encouraged kids to learn the value of domestic arts through 4-H and the county fair. Living in town, Bonnie led a 4-H group on clean, safe food preparation. Kids came to her home to learn and to eat! Her own family entered baked goods, crafts, and sewing items in the county fair and appreciated others’ various entries. Bonnie even spent a year leading a Girl Scout troop to help the next generation.

Bonnie enjoyed sharing her time and resources with others. She and Jim sponsored four children through Compassion International for more than 40 years. When a child graduated, they sponsored a new one so they always had four. Even today, you can see pictures of the children they sponsor on a shelf in the hallway. In Spokane, Bonnie volunteered teaching English to immigrants at Country Homes Christian Church.

When the children were young, Bonnie and Jim would take them trick-or-treating for UNICEF. When the kids were older, Bonnie helped organize CROP Hunger Walks, first in Spokane, then McMinnville, raising money for the international relief organization Church World Service and to support local food pantries. She appreciated how well they use funds to support families to secure food, shelter, health, school, and employment.

She enjoyed jigsaw puzzles and games. Bonnie was competitive when playing cards or dominoes, insisting on keeping score. She enjoyed visiting while putting together puzzles. For many years, there was a 2000+ piece puzzle in progress in the basement music room. She also enjoyed puzzles at family gatherings for holidays and the Field’s Spring family reunion.

Bonnie and Jim attended every concert and sporting event of their four children, watching nearly every Shadle Park High School girls' basketball game from 1980 – 1989 including two state champion tournaments. They continued this support by attending their grandchildren’s talent shows, concerts, martial arts tournaments, and school plays. When needed, Bonnie traveled every week to babysit her granddaughters for a few months shortly after she had retired.

They also hosted many people in their home: traveling choirs, regional band competitors, and Japanese students from Spokane's sister city, Nishinomia. Every summer for many years, students stayed with the family for two weeks. When Bonnie's children had grown, she and Jim started hosting the teacher who came with the group. Bonnie and Jim were able to visit some of these home-stay students when they visited daughter Wendy in Japan in 1993.

Bonnie and Jim supported their daughter Ann when she was working in China by forwarding her weekly email update, “This Week in China”, to many friends and family members. They also visited China for a month, traveling and visiting the schools for special-needs children that Ann was starting. Bonnie also enjoyed visiting daughter Lisa in Alaska and having son Steve stay with them in Spokane during his monthly Air Force reserves weekend.

After moving to McMinnville in 2007, Bonnie volunteered in schools in classrooms, read with children through the SMART reading program, and collected abandoned lost-and-found coats and clothes from the schools to distribute through City Outreach Ministries. The back-to-school coat give away and Christmas gift baskets were her favorite City Outreach events. She spent many hours and made good friends at First Christian Church where she worshiped every Sunday, attended Bible study, acted as volunteer custodian, and assisted at City Outreach Ministries. Bonnie and Jim also volunteered monthly at First Presbyterian Church’s Community Dinner for the poor and lonely. Bonnie helped organize 12 McMinnville CROP Hunger Walks.

Bonnie loved being outdoors. She always walked so quickly, even while shopping, that most people nearly jogged to keep up with her. When picking up grandsons from school on Fridays, they remember her jokes, trips to the park, and fast walks home. One of her neighbors was surprised to hear of her passing as she had just seen Bonnie walking to the mailbox that same week. Bonnie also enjoyed gardening for pleasure. She had over a dozen different iris varieties in her yard and wanted to get outdoors to plant petunias and pull weeds just weeks before her passing. Her husband and grandsons acted as her hands and feet in the yard when Bonnie's became too weak to do it herself.

Bonnie is survived by her husband, Jim; brother, Howard Fenley and wife Peggy of Alamota, KS; daughter Ann Churchwell of Spokane, WA; son Steven Churchwell and family Crissy, Sarah, and Rachel of Yakima, WA; daughter Wendy Sagers and family John, Robert, and Thomas of McMinnville, OR; daughter Lisa Bell and husband Wayne of Miami, FL; nephew Tracy Fenley and family of Ness City, KS; and special son and daughter Jose and Maria Recinos of McMinnville, OR. She was preceded in death by parents George and Clara Fenley of Alamota, KS; sister Norma Kuhn and family Cleo and Karl of Kansas City, KS; and nephew Robert Fenley of Alamota, KS.

A celebration of life service will be held October 5 at 2 p.m. at First Christian Church at 1300 SE Brooks Street in McMinnville, Oregon.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Church World Service at https://cwsglobal.org/donate/.