Obituary of Bonnie Bleeker

Bonnie J. Bleeker, 88 of Iowa City died Friday, December 4, 2015, at Briarwood Health Care Center. Memorial services will be held at 10am Wednesday, December 9, 2015, at the Newman Center in Iowa City where Sunday parking ordinance will be in effect for parking around the church. There will be a time of light refreshments and visitation following the services. In lieu of flowers memorial donations can be made in Bonnie's memory to either Briarwood Health Care Center. Bonnie Jeanette Beamsley was born July 31, 1927, in Eldora, Iowa the daughter of Roy and Agnes (Hartman) Beamsley. Following graduation from Ackley High School in 1945, she attended AIB Business College. She used these skills in the early days of her marriage to William "Bill" Bleeker to support them while he was in college. She and Bill settled to Iowa City in 1946 where they raised their family, and Bill was employed by the Iowa City Community Schools in various capacities including superintendent. They left Iowa City in 1975 for California returning after retirement in 1989. Bonnie not only cared for her family, but also valued her life experiences; including working game management at the Los Angeles Coliseum for the 1984 Olympics and other Los Angeles area sporting events, traveling to Europe and Japan, and performing tap dance at Hancher Auditorium. She had many interests; golf was her sport, and the Hawkeyes were her team. Bonnie's family includes her husband Bill; their two children, Debra Lawrence and William Bleeker Jr., 4 granddaughters, Kelly Lentsch, Tisa Johnson, Lanny Tygrett and Sadie Ary; and 11 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents and sister, Eloise Harvey.