Bonnie Ann Davis Thomas
Bonnie Ann Davis Thomas
August 7, 1931 ~ October 18, 2024
Bonnie Ann Davis Thomas, loving and beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend, passed away peacefully on October 18, 2024, in Highland, Utah. She was a lifelong, active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To Bonnie’s last earthly breath, a testimony of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ burned in her heart. She lived a life in every measure worthy of her Latter-day Saint pioneer heritage.
Bonnie was born on August 7, 1931, in Mesa, Arizona, to goodly parents Henry Floyd Davis and Anna Laura Skousen Davis, who preceded her in death in 1955 while Bonnie was still a young mother. Her beloved siblings, Reed Kay Davis and Carol Aileen Davis Dangerfield, also preceded her in death. Bonnie’s father’s work took the young Davis family to Arizona, Utah, and eventually New Mexico, where Bonnie graduated from Albuquerque High School. Bonnie graduated from Brigham Young University in 1953. While at BYU, Bonnie was a Cougarette, Social Chairwoman of the ToKalon Social Unit, and senior class representative to the Student Council, among other varied activities. Bonnie’s BYU years gave her many cherished friends and memories that endured throughout her life.
While Bonnie was attending BYU, a young man from Wyoming, Claude Ray Thomas, caught her eye. As the subsequent decades of life together proved, it was the truest of true love. Claude and Bonnie married and were sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple on February 1, 1953. With Bonnie’s unflagging love and support, Claude graduated from the University of Utah medical school in 1961. After Claude’s graduation, Claude had opportunities for his future medical practice in Wyoming and in California. Perhaps because she was a daughter of the Arizona/New Mexico desert, Bonnie persuaded Claude that the warmer climate would suit the young Thomas family best. So off to California they went, finding a wonderful and welcoming home for more than 10 years in the small northern California town of Gridley, California, a place the Thomas family still considers to be their hometown. In Gridley, Claude and Bonnie flourished with their six children. Bonnie was active in church, civic, and school affairs. In the fertile ground of the Thomas family home in the countryside outside Gridley, Bonnie lovingly planted, grew, and cared for a yard filled with colorful, verdant plants and trees. She taught her children to work by, among many other chores, tasking them with keeping the weeds out of her wonderful landscape. Bonnie never lost her love (and green thumb) for plants and trees.
Feeling a strong prompting in 1973, Bonnie and Claude moved their growing family to American Fork, Utah, living in a home that now sits kitty-corner from the LDS Timpanogos Temple. In American Fork, Claude continued his medical practice and Bonnie continued to live up to her family nickname of “Busy Bonnie,” which included her continued love of plants and trees in her beautiful yard. Eventually, as their children grew up and left home, Claude and Bonnie relocated to Mapleton, Fillmore, and then Richfield, Utah. In 1986, they moved to the Atlanta, Georgia, area. After Claude retired from practicing medicine, Claude and Bonnie moved briefly to South Carolina and then to downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, where they lived for several years in the Eagle Gate Apartments. Claude and Bonnie then moved to the American Fork/Lehi/Highland, Utah, area, where they lived together until Claude’s death on June 2, 2014.
During her life, Bonnie was no stranger to the trials of life. Notwithstanding those trials, Bonnie remained faithful to who she was: optimistic, kind, loving, welcoming, patient, and always smiling. She was fiercely loyal to her family and to her faith in Jesus Christ and His restored Gospel, which never wavered, never diminished. Her life is a monument to all her posterity of the righteous character of a true woman of Zion.
Bonnie is survived by five of her children and in-law children: Richard Ray Thomas (Melinda Robertson Thomas), Nancy Eileen Thomas Murphy (Dale Bryan Murphy), Randal J Thomas (Jodee Ellen Monk Thomas), Robert Claude Thomas (Trina Ann Poulson Thomas), and Sally Louise Thomas Jensen (Thomas Mitchell Jensen). Bonnie’s oldest child, Debora Ann Thomas Brown, and Debora’s husband, Don Welman Brown, preceded Bonnie in death. From Bonnie’s six children has sprung a wonderful and enduring posterity of 33 grandchildren and 68 great-grandchildren. One of Bonnie’s great-grandchildren, Penny Thomas, preceded Bonnie in death. Bonnie is also survived by her beloved sister-in-law, Louise Lund.
The entire Thomas family wishes to thank all those who, with kindness and compassion, assisted and cared for Bonnie through the years. While there are far too many to name individually, a special thank you is given to those who have so selflessly helped Bonnie in her later years, in particular Dr. Doug Mower; the staff at Highland Glen Assisted Living Center in Highland, Utah; and Brooke Lee and the staff of Symbii Hospice.
Bonnie’s funeral service will be held on Saturday, October 26, 2024, at 11:00 am in the Warenski Funeral Home Chapel, located at 1776 North 900 East, American Fork, Utah. A gathering for guests, friends, and family will take place prior to the funeral from 9:30-10:30 am. Interment will be in the Highland City Cemetery.