Donna Lee Bonakdar

Donna was born on November 12, 1944, to Ann and Joseph Choate in Biwabik, Minnesota. She enjoyed her early life being near the Minnesota cousins before moving to Chicago in 1950’s after her father returned home from the war. Joe senior soon established himself in Chicago and Donna began making new friends.

Donna soon became a “Chicago girl” and a big Cubs fan in the Windy City. Donna began her education by attending Schneider primary and high school. She excelled at school and was an avid reader and writer. She was also quite independent-minded and one summer decided to work at the local amusement park to save money to someday move out. It was there working at the amusement park at a hot dog stand where she met her future husband, Massoud (Tony Bond) Bonakdar.

After a short courtship, Donna and Massoud were married on June 26, 1964, in Chicago. They resided there while Massoud finished his engineering degree and Donna put her skills to work as a front desk receptionist at the American Medical Association. They welcomed their first son Michael Andrew on February 5, 1965, and 6 months later, Donna made the hard choice to leave America to join Massoud’s family in Tehran.

In Iran, Donna was excited to immerse herself in the culture and quickly became fluent in Farsi and was hired as a teacher at the local foreign language school. She also loved cooking and became adept at making some of the complex Persian local dishes, She continued this love of cooking and hosting gatherings with friends and family in Tehran and also in their next residence of Kerman, Iran. Donna enjoyed meeting and socializing with new friends and would also host large dinner parties for the local phone company were Massoud now was the chief executive.

On July 30, 1971, they welcomed their second son Robert “Bobby” Bonakdar while still living in Iran. While life in Iran was initially grand, it became difficult due to the revolution and in 1979 the family had to leave, first re-locating to Donna’s Mother Ann’s and Sister Diane’s home on Oriole Street back in Chicago. A year later Donna looked for schooling for Michael and Robert in Vancouver, Canada. Shortly after getting settled in Canada, Donna and the family again made the choice to move, this time to Las Vegas, Nevada where Massoud would put his skills as an industrial engineer to work as a successful builder in addition to working a variety of culinary job to support his family in the growing city. Donna, meanwhile, found her passion in sales where she could use her friendly demeanor to make any customer feel at home.

Donna first worked at Switzers in the then Boulevard Mall for over 20 years where she met her best friend Val. Val and Donna remained friends throughout all these years, and enjoyed numerous activities and were always enjoying each other’s company. Donna then transitioned to the MGM Grand where she worked at several gift shops where she sold and collected memorabilia from some of her favorites including, I Love Lucy, the Wizard of Oz and Betty Boop. Putting it mildly she became an avid collector of these collectibles which she kindly shared with family and friends through gifts for numerous years. Donna was also recognized multiple times by MGM management for her passion, top notch customer service, and attention to detail. They also asked her to join the management team, but Donna reclined and explained how much she enjoyed her job and was not willing to give it up.

Donna was so proud of her family including her husband Massoud (Tony) with whom she managed many successful properties. However, you couldn’t get too far into the conversation before Donna proudly mentioned her two sons: Michael the casino executive and Robert the doctor; or her four grandkids, Michael II “Mikey”, Bodhi, Zoey and Grimm.

After the passing of her dear husband, Donna, with the assistance of her sons and family moved to the Carnegie Heights independent community which allowed her social nature to peak as well as her interests in art, music, and other fun activities. Donna made friends quickly due to her infectious smile, positive attitude and genuine kindness. She would often share gifts with a personalized original poem inserted in a card for each recipient including the staff at Carnegie for every occasion.

Donna continued to enjoy traveling and recently had been on trips to San Diego, Arizona and Big Bear with her family where she would enjoy the ocean, valleys, mountains, and favorite gardens and enjoyed her favorite meals: scallops, ravioli, or chicken parmigiana, at local restaurants. During these meals she would enjoy raising a glass with her family to toast. Donna also kept up with all relatives and old friends all throughout the years. She was always speaking about her family the “Millers” in Minnesota, sister in-law Judy Choate now living in Arizona, the Glass family in Wisconsin and many other cousins, nephews and nieces that she missed seeing in person. Donna was grateful for having such a wonderful family and for all the special people around her. She often prayed for peace in the world, and wished to keep safe everyone dear to her and all that was good in the world. Donna and her immediate family are also very thankful for everyone that assisted her recently to manage her health matters and all the support they provided especially the Johnson family, Lita, Bill, and Billy.

She is survived by her sons Michael and Robert, Daughters in Law, June and Jennifer, and grandkids, Michael II “Mikey”, Bodhi, Zoey and Grimm.

Services will be held Friday, January 19, 2024 with a visitation from 10am-2pm, a funeral service 12pm-1pm and burial to follow at Palm Eastern Mortuary, 7600 S Eastern Ave. Las Vegas, NV 89123.

In lieu of flowers the family request donation in her honor to the American Heart Association.