Dennis Daniel

Bonnie Daniel

Bay Area Cremation Society - Brentwood

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Bonnie Jean Daniel was born to Ralph and Helen Flye in 1938 in Ft. Riley, KS.  She was the oldest of four children.  She was predeceased by her sister Carol and her brother Ron.  She is survived by her youngest sister, Yvonne Cobb, and by her son Dennis and daughter Laurie.
In her youth, Bonnie's family moved around from state to state as her father searched for work, as so many did during the Great Depression and WWII.  The Flyes lived in KS, OK and CO during those years, and Bonnie also spent a brief period of time in NM when she went to Nursing School.  But it was in Ardmore, OK, that Bonnie met the love of her life while working in a drugstore, when a handsome young Air Force fellow from Columbus, GA, came in one day to buy a birthday present for his younger sister back home - coincidentally named Bonnie.
Bonnie continued to go to Nursing School and kept a long-distance relationship going with Wayne, and after three years they finally married in Columbus, GA.  Wayne was out of the Air Force by then and had started his Sales career in Atlanta, and the newlyweds settled into the suburb of Decatur, GA, where Dennis and then Laurie would be born.  They would move to Tucker, just down the road, shortly after Laurie was born, where they would live until 1972, when career ambitions called Wayne to the West Coast.
Bonnie and Wayne would then spend the largest part of their adult lives in Walnut Creek, CA, living there from 1973 - 2001.  During that time, Bonnie raised Dennis and Laurie from their pre-teen years to becoming an empty-nester but also returned to Nursing for a short while.  However, she discovered that her real calling was in Psychology / Counseling, and she went back to school to earn several degrees in Psychology and Family Counseling.  Eventually she opened her own practice as an MFCC (Marriage, Family and Child Counselor) in Alamo, CA.  Bonnie spent over 20 years in Counseling as a volunteer and clinician, but eventually left her practice in 2001.
After 28 years in Walnut Creek, Bonnie and Wayne both retired and decided to sell their house and embark on a cross-country tour of the U.S. and Canada in a 28-ft camper trailer.  By 2003 they were ready to settle back into domestic life and chose Prescott, AZ, as their new home.
It was in Prescott that Bonnie entered her Second Half of Life journey and joined the Unity church, learned the art of Reiki healing (even becoming a Reiki Master and Instructor!), and made lasting friendships during the 7 years they lived there.
As Wayne's health continued to decline during their last years in Prescott, Bonnie decided to move back to the East Bay Area before he passed, so that she would be closer to her "girls" when he did (daughter Laurie and youngest sister Yvonne).  They relocated to Brentwood, CA, about an hour's drive east of San Francisco, in early 2010, and Wayne passed the following year.
There, Bonnie continued to be a part of the Unity family, joining the local church in Brentwood.  Her love of singing also drew her to The Summerset Singers, a choir comprised of residents in the 55+ community where she resided.  Friends made at Brentwood Inspired Living Center (the Unity church) and the Summerset Singers would become her core group for social, spiritual and emotional support for the rest of her life.  Even so, Bonnie made annual pilgrimages back to Arizona to visit son Dennis in Scottsdale and dear friends in Prescott.  She also enjoyed traveling back to GA and AL to visit lifelong friends and family in the Deep South, and, most of all, to take advantage of trips to the beach in FL, GA and SC!
Traveling would, in fact, prove to be a lifelong passion of Bonnie's, and trips before and after Wayne's passing, with friends and family, from places as disparate as Iceland, Disney World, Monterey Bay, Hawaii, Georgia, Paris ... are simply too numerous to catalog.  Even when the logistics of traveling became too difficult to handle as her health declined, her desire to travel never waned.
Bonnie's flair for fashion cannot go unmentioned, either.  Everyone who knew her would probably agree that she was invariably the best-dressed woman in the room, whether just going down to the dining room for breakfast at Merrill Gardens (her last residence) or out on the town with Wayne for New Year's Eve in Montreal, Quebec.  From the shoes to the clothes to the accessories, everything matched and was beautiful and tasteful - just like Bonnie.
Bonnie's was a life so full of adventure, love and learning that no simple obituary can begin to do it justice.  But if you knew Bonnie, whether for a week or a lifetime, whether as family or friend (and there was truly no distinction for her), you were touched by her love and you felt her tenderness and concern for all people.  A blessed life who blessed us.
A Celebration of Life in Brentwood, CA, will be announced by the family at a future date.

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Bonnie Daniel Obituary | Altogether

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