Bonnie Louise Kohlmyer

Bonnie was born October 4, 1934, in Forsyth, Montana, the daughter of Lyle Regester and Rose (Dietz) Regester.

She attended school in Forsyth until marrying Gerald Kohlmyer in 1951.

The couple began married life in Montana, but soon moved to California where Bonnie worked as a telephone operator for Pacific Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T). After their children were born, she focused on her family while helping Gerald fix up and resell homes in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington.

In 1975 Bonnie resumed her former career and started working for GTE, then returned to Ma Bell at the Pacific Nortwest Bell (PNB) office in Spokane, WA. She served as a Union representative for several years and from her operator’s chair, she had a seat in the middle of the industry’s technological shift from cord boards to computerized call handling. Her tenure coincided with the anti-monopoly break-up of AT&T and the era when the telecommunications industry began realigning. At the time of her retirement in 1996 she was working for PNB’s successor, US West.

After her retirement, Bonnie spent almost as much time on the phone as she had while working. However, freed from the structured routine of an operator, she spent many happy hours chatting and laughing with friends and family throughout the West.

She stayed active in her condo HOA and helped raise her grandchildren, often taking them for walks on the beaches near her home in Shoreline, WA.

She survived breast and colon cancer, but lived with Alzheimer’s disease at the end of her life.

She is survived by her daughter Brenda Kohlmyer of Kenmore, WA, son and daughter-in-law Steven Kohlmyer and Debra Warden of Edmonds, WA; grandchildren William G. Cox, Nicholas J. Cox, and Spencer Kohlmyer; sister Mildred “Midge” Regester of Hamilton, MT, sister and brother-in-law Lila and Roy Howe of Spokane, WA, sister Sandi Slade of Claremont, CA and sister and brother-in-law Judith and Dean Gardner of Clarksville, TN; also survived by numerous nieces and nephews.

Bonnie was preceded in death by her husband of 50 years, Gerald Kohlmyer, and her parents Lyle and Rose Regester.

Memorial services will be held Thursday, June 20 at 6 p.m. at Evergreen Washelli Funeral Home, 11111 Aurora Ave. N., Seattle.

Graveside services will be held in Forsyth, MT.

Instead of flowers, tributes are suggested to the Washington State Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.