Bonnie Lee Driver

Bonnie was born September 17, 1930 in Smithville, TX, the middle daughter of Rudolph and Ella Kuehn. As an infant she contracted polio, and thanks to the valiant efforts of her parents, the disease settled only in her left leg, allowing her not to need leg braces. Even though it left her with a slightly shorter leg, she learned to walk, run, and do whatever the other kids did. As a toddler she managed to find a kitchen match on the floor and promptly lit it, catching her dress on fire. Luckily, her mother noticed in time, putting the fire out, and to prevent the flame from disfiguring her baby, she pushed up the skin of Bonnie’s face in such a way that it never left burn scars. She had a “dimple” there, hardly noticeable, for the rest of her life.

As a member of The Greatest Generation, she and her family, who were farmers, lost everything during the Great Depression and toughed it out during The War. Bonnie’s mother taught her three girls how to sew and do many chores needed for the family to survive. Bonnie never minded getting her hands dirty to do the job at hand and became an excellent seamstress, later sewing clothes for herself and her daughter, and became a talented quilter.

Bonnie graduated in 1949 from Smithville High School where she was a member of the Tigers Drill Squad. As soon as she could, she “beat feet” for the big city of Dallas, TX, living with an uncle until she could find a job and move into a boarding house.

It wasn’t long before some friends introduced her to her future husband and “knight in shining armor”, Bill Driver. She said, at first, she didn’t like him much, thinking he was conceited, but he won her over and they were married September 15, 1950. Their first child, Gary, was born in 1951. They moved to Houston, TX, and their second child, Jeanna, was born in 1954. Bonnie and Bill were married 63 years before cancer took her beloved husband away from her.

Bonnie never met a newspaper clipping, quilt design, or a plant/flower she didn’t like. She and Bill loved planting new things and watching them grow. Bonnie collected everything she could find on taking care of the nature in her yard, as well as books and fabric for quilting.

But her greatest joy was her husband and family whom she cared for with the greatest of devotion, putting herself last in all things. She was den mother to her son’s scout troop, made clothes for her daughter, and Halloween costumes for both kids. Her kindness, cheerfulness, and low-key sense of humor charmed all that met her. She even had total strangers tell her how pretty she was, though she never believed it herself. Once, while she and Bill were out to dinner, a woman, a stranger, stopped and told them they had a “glow” about them; another time, a man, another stranger, paid for their dinner because they reminded him of his parents.

Bonnie was predeceased by her husband Bill Driver; her sisters Jonell Jenkins and Shirley Wilhelm, brothers-in-law Harold Driver, Euel Jenkins, and Monroe Wilhelm, and her parents. She is survived by her son Gary Driver and his wife Joan; grandsons Jack and Zachary Driver; her daughter Jeanna Driver and “adopted” daughter Janet Binch; sister-in-law Severa Driver; several nieces and nephews; many friends, and one particular black cat named Marcasite who loved to loll on her lap and sleep next to her.