Bonnie Lee Penner

With sadness, the family of Bonnie Lee Penner (nee Davies) passed away at the age of 72 on Sunday, June 20, 2021. Born in Mission B.C. where she lived her entire life, Bonnie was predeceased by her parents Bertha and Vincent. She will be lovingly remembered by Carl, her husband of 56 years; 2 sons, Steven (Michelle) and Michael (Paula) Penner; 2 sisters, Sharon (Stan) Papp and Arlene (Dale) Hildebrandt; 2 brothers, Rick (Patricia) Davies and Terry (Ruth) Davies; 4 grandchildren Savannah (Ben) Paul, Natasha, Kyli, Grace, and 1 great-grandchild, Everett Paul; also, many relatives and friends.

Due to current restrictions, the family will be having a small private gathering in Bonnie’s honour.

Bonnie will be greatly missed by her family and many friends.

If you would like to pay your respects, we ask that you leave a message at www.woodlawnfh-mission.com

In lieu of flowers; donations can be made to the charity of your choice.

God Saw You GettingTired

God saw you getting tired

When a cure was not to be

So He closed His arms around you

And whispered “Come to Me”

With tearful eyes we watched you suffer

And saw you fade away.

Although we loved you dearly

We could not make you stay.

A ‘golden heart’ stopped beating,

Working hands put to rest;

God broke our hearts to prove to us,

He only takes the Best

Mom’s Eulogy

June 30th, 2021

In years to come, when I think about these tragic times we’re living through right now, the tragedy I’ll remember most is my mom passing away. While writing this, I can’t help but wonder why it is that words come so easily when we feel the need to express our thoughts on other people’s feelings, other people’s tragedies, but the words don’t come so easily when we have to express our own feelings about our own personal tragedies. It’s as if the pain we feel is so intense, that a catharsis of emotions, although necessary, can never be sufficiently articulated. It is this time, standing here with Mom’s family and close friends that I fully realize the limitations of language.

So, I ask myself what I should do instead. The irony is not lost on me that I’m delivering a eulogy for Mom, but I’m at a loss for words. What can I tell you? I suppose I can tell you that I’m feeling regretful for not being available to Mom as much as I should have; I could tell you that, even through her health issues, I took for granted that she would be around a lot longer. Maybe that’s because she carried on as if nothing was wrong. She lived her life on her terms, and nothing, no one was going to stop her. This, I suppose, is what I can tell you, Mom’s terms in regard to how she chose to live her life. There were her usual daily routines, such as picking up the paper, delivering coffee to Michelle at work, stopping by Donna’s for a visit, grocery shopping, racing home in time to mow the lawn and cook Dad dinner, to her weekly routines, such as meeting her grand-daughters for lunch, meeting friends and other family members for a visit, racing home in time to cook Dad dinner and, yes on a weekly basis, do some baking and cooking so she could deliver the goods to, I believe, as many people as she could, including yours truly. Let’s not forget, what I’ll call Mom’s daily networking. How many people here know what I’m talking about? Yes, she was in contact with everyone she knew, friends and family, on a regular basis. Michael, how many times a month did Mom check in with you?

These routines, as I call them, were important to Mom, and family meant everything to her. Make no mistake, if you were someone lucky enough to be her friend, she also considered you family. In fact, quite regularly, Mom would be talking about someone, a complete stranger to me, as if I should know who this person is through some sort of osmosis. If you’re here today and you don’t know me personally, I probably know something personal about you because you were important enough for Mom to talk about.

Her important connections to people would inevitably lead to Mom’s synopsis of the weather…the weather anywhere on the planet on any given day. The weather was important to her, because she was an avid outdoor enthusiast; be it golfing, fishing, hunting, she was always on the move in that respect. This, I understand, but she would also contact us from places like Blythe, California, with an update on the weather…in Mission! Of course, we knew that she did this to give her an excuse to check in and see how we were. However, I sometimes think that if my mother could be granted one superpower, it would be to control the weather! Then she could create the perfect conditions for all the outdoor family gatherings she liked to host.

And host family gatherings, she did. Even if the gathering wasn’t taking place here at Mom and Dad’s place, she was still the host. As I said earlier, family meant everything to Mom. We even had some names for some of the bigger summer gatherings that included all her grandchildren. Who could forget Bonnie-Fest or Bonnie-Palooza! She was truly the Matriarch who held us all together, and she was truly at her happiest not only being around the ones she loved but catering to the ones she loved. She always put all of us and our needs before herself in every respect, and she was always inclusive and accepting toward anyone joining our family. To me, she was at her finest and most dignified through her roles as Wife, Mother, Grandmother, and, most recently, Great-Grandmother. She would probably laugh at me for saying this, but it’s true: she had a nobility of character that we should all aspire to.

As I wrote this, many stories about Mom came to mind. Many of you, I’m sure, have your own stories about her. In fact, I know you do. However, I would just like to leave you with one last thought. I’m not a particularly religious person, but with Mom’s passing, I found myself looking for some sort of sign of her presence. It’s really over the last few days that I have indeed noticed a sign. Look around you. Many of her loved ones, adults and children alike, gathered in her yard, together. This is Mom’s story, Mom’s language, and, by the looks of it, she’s finally able to control the outcome of the weather!

Steve Penner