Gloria Dean Bonen, 82

Gloria Dean Bonen, 82, of Blackwater, passed away at her home on Friday morning, September 26, 2008.

There will be a prayer service for Mrs. Bonen at 6:00 pm on Sunday, September 28th with visitation following until 8:00 p, at Davis Funeral Chapel in Boonville. Friends may call from 1:00 pm until time of the visitation. The Mass of Christian Burial will be held at SS Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Boonville at 10:00 am on Monday, September 29, 208 with father Bob Duesdiecker officiating. Burial will follow at Old Lamine Cemetery with Troy Kateman, Chris Jones, Chad Wolfe, Jay Rodieck, Donald Esser, Mike Esser, and Steve Schuster serving as pallbearers.

Gloria D. Bonen was born in Cooper County, March 15, 1926, the daughter of Frank Jacob Esser and Rowena Belle Widel Esser. Sher married Herman Bonen in May of 1970 and he proceeded her in Death in August of the same year. Gloria was an avid gardener who lover growing and drying flowers. She was a member of the Daylily Society in Columbia, and a long time member of the Arrow Rock Craft Club, as well as the Blackwater beautification project. Mrs. Bonen was a lifelong member of SS Peter and Paul Catholic Church.

She is proceeded in death by her father, Frank Jacob Esser and Mother, Rowena Belle Widel Esser and husband Herman Bonen.

She is survived by three daughters, Donna Kateman and husband Robert of Nelson, Monna Schuster and husband Ed of Blacwater, Libby Jones and husband Dale of Columbia, and one son, Donnie Bon and wife Cheryl of Pilot Grove. She leaves behind one brother, Franklyn Esser and his wife Norma of Blackwater. Her step-children, Dorothy Imhoff, Mary Jane Fahrendorf, and Kenny Bonen of Blackwater and Judy Acton of Hallsville also survive. She will be missed by her nine grandchildren, Tammy Rodieck and husband Jay Rodieck, Troy Kateman, Kim Wolfe and husband Chad, Stephanie Day, Chris Jones, Felicia Jones, Zachary Jones, Denim Bonen and Holi Bonen and five great-grandchildren, Taylor Rodieck, Jaime Rodieck, Abigail Wolfe, Molly Wolfe and Isaac Day as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests that memorials be directed to the Howard County Hospice or the Blackwater Garden Club.

In a Better Place.....

Hello to everyone. I just wanted to pass along that Grandma passed away this morning. She is now in a much better place and is no longer suffering. I got the call around 1:30am. We knew that it wasn't going to be much longer. Hospice told the girls on Wednesday a couple of days and it shows that they knew exactly what they were talking about. All three girls have been there since yesterday morning so Grandma knew that it was okay they were with her whenever it was her time to go.


While I was able to go back to sleep after Dad came in at 1:30am; Kim and I just talked and I feel like I am ready to take on the world. I thought then what a better time then to blog at this early of a morning. Most of you should no that I don't get up this early if at all possible.


There is no doubt that our life will be different without Grandma as we are so used to always doing things with her. It was very hard to accept the fact back in January when we got the news. They said 6 months then and we had her for 9. Goes to show that she was a very strong women. Not until the last month was she not able to get out of the house. Her last outing was Labor Day Weekend we had her down here at the house. She had an enjoyable time. Here is one last picture that I have of Grandma and Isaac that I will treasure for life.....



All Grandkids (minus Troy and Chris, they weren't able to make it) and her Great Grandkids all at Grandma's 82nd Birthday. She was a strong women and had 82 great years of life.
Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers and we make out way through this difficult journey.

The curls that I love

Isaac has a touch of curly hair. When it gets humid these curls just start to form on the side over his ears. Lately I have been noticing that his hair just has a wave to it. Tonight after his bath Mommy, well Autie actually, played beauty salon and fixed his hair in the "mess" look or just flat curls. I loved it. He looked so cute I just had to share.

Isaac is growing up so fast. He is 9 months today. Wow, where has the time gone. He is really starting to do a lot of fun things. He now says Moma and his new thing today is ba-ba-ba-ba-ba with slobber running down his chin. He doesn't crawl. He sits on the flood with a very straight back and rocks back and forth. He puts his legs out front of him and scoots himself up. He doesn't get very far very fast but believe it or not he manages to get where he wants to. He is pulling up to things. He just doesn't know what to do when he gets there. I don't think I am ready for the walking stage. At least right now I can half way keep him out of things.

Just a little update on Grandma. Hospice said on Friday that they think she wont make it but a couple of weeks. She is not eating and drinking very little. Within a week all she has eaten is maybe a cracker or a bite of banana bread. As it is hard to think of her not being here anymore I don't like to see her suffer like she is right now. May God Bless Her!

Thanks to Hurricane Ike

As you know Hurricane Ike brought us tons of rain. I was beginning to think that it was never going to quit. All of the rain brought high water on beautiful fields and roads making it impassable. The water down here by my house went over last Sunday (14th) and went off the road early on Thursday (18th). The water went over the road in Blackwater on Tuesday (16th) and was off by late Wednesday (17th). While the water was over the road in Blackwater it made it very long for me to get to work. I had to go out through Lamine and hit interstate and come in that way. Blackwater school was actually out of school for 2 days.....I bet they were loving that.

This is the water going over the road in Blackwater. Before the water will even go over the road both fields to left and right of the highway have to be covered in water. This was taken about noon on the 16th. If you look closely you can still see the yellow line. As you can tell the current is coming right on across.

This is one of the fields after the water went down. What one day was a beautiful field a beans is now a dark, nasty, STINKY, mess. God Bless Farmers!!

The Big 1

It is so hard to believe that Miss Molly Kay is a year old. Last Sunday she turned the big 1. On Saturday we had her birthday party. She was so funny. She loved her cake. Thanks to Mema she was able to get a pig cake. The snout was "her" cake. She didn't know quit what to do but she figured it out pretty quickly and sure liked it.

The beautiful "pig" cake....

Molly enjoying her "pig" cake....

Prayers Please

As most of you know my Grandmother is dieing of cancer. Back in January they gave her 6 months to live. Fortunately she has made it past that amount of time. We are working on 8 months. Her health is falling very quickly. She is no longer able to stay by herself. Between Mom, Aunt Donna, and Libby someone is with her 24/7. It is a challenge for her to walk and she is no longer eating very much. She sleeps most of the day only awake about 3 hours in a 24 hour time span. I will dearly miss her but her time here is about over. I don't like seeing her this way because that is not "Grandma." She no longer acknowledges you when you walk in the door, if she even wakes up.

I just wanted to give everyone a short update. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying this cooler weather. I have had to get the winter clothes out for Isaac...sure is crazy!! I just ask that you keep Grandma in your prayers as she needs them right now. God Bless.

The love of cousins

On Saturday we all went to Kansas City to do some shopping. I managed to get some of Isaac's Birthday/Christmas shopping done. We had lunch with Mary at her house and enjoyed ourselves there for a little bit. We had to get home rather early because Mom had to stay with Grandma that night. On Sunday Mom brought Grandma down to our house since someone has to be with her dad and night. Grandma was able to spend the day down here but slept most of the time. We went to the Pilot Grove Church Picnic Sunday evening. The food was wonderful and Abby had a good time playing the games. Kim and everyone brought carry outs home since Grandma isn't able to get out that much and I went and worked my shift....oh what fun!

Isaac and Molly holding hands while traveling down the road. The love of 2 cousins so close in age. It is so fun to watch them as they try to communicate with each other!!!!