Bonnie Dell Atkins

Bonnie Dell Atkins, of the Old Union community, passed away Friday, March 22, 2013, at her home. She was 79. Funeral services will be held Tuesday, March 26, 2013 at 2 PM in the Groesbeck Funeral Home Chapel. Visitation will be Monday, March 25, 2013 from 6-8 PM. She will be buried in Wilson Chapel Cemetery, and Reverend James Walker will officiate at her services. Bonnie was born on March 17, 1934 to Coleman Carpenter and Odel (Walker) Carpenter in Limestone County near the Center community. She attended school in Groesbeck until the family moved to Robinson, where she graduated from high school in 1952. In Robinson, she met her future husband, Thomas (Tom) Atkins, who was stationed at James Connelly Air Force Base. She was a beautiful blue-eyed, dark-haired, 97-pound young lady. Tom’s mother came down to visit him in Texas from his hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota, and Bonnie made the train trip back to Minnesota with her in the summer of 1952. Tom came up to St. Paul on leave, and they were united in marriage on December 27,1952. They came back to Waco to live, just in time to survive the tragic Waco tornado of 1953. Their son was born while in Waco. After Tom’s discharge from the Air Force, they moved back to St. Paul, where she was a wife and mother, with four girls being born in Minnesota. They finally decided to leave the cold winters behind and come back to Texas around 1976. Bonnie attended cosmetology college in Waco and remained there as an instructor for ten years. She also worked in several local shops around Groesbeck for awhile. Bonnie loved to travel, and with the girls living in other states after they were grown and married, Tom and Bonnie visited each one every year and also took their children and later the grandchildren on many trips. In addition to travel, Bonnie loved to fish. She loved to be out on the lakes in Minnesota fishing, with her boat full of children. She remained a beautiful lady all her life, who was happy, go-lucky, and had a wonderful smile. She deeply loved her husband, children and grandchildren, and was concerned and worried about all of them until her final days. Bonnie was preceded in death by her parents; by her son, Lawrence “Larry” Atkins who passed away April 19, 1980; and by her grandson, Shawn Morgenstern. She is survived by her husband of sixty years, Thomas Atkins of Old Union; daughter and son-in-law, Joyce and James Gray of Denison; daughter, Pamela Hayne of Minnesota; daughter and son-in-law, Melody and Richard Ryan of Wisconson; and daughter and son-in-law, Dana and Mike Daly of Minnesota; seven grandchildren; sixteen great grandchildren; and her sister, Joyce Taylor of Fort Worth.