Our column this week is dedicated to our sweet Bonnie. For those of you who may not know who this magnificent caring, compassionate woman was ... please allow me to share the love our Valley Home Community will forever have for her.

Bonnie Elizabeth Gellerman was truly the heart of our school and our community. To our Valley Home students she will be remembered as our Valley Home School bus driver; she will also be remembered as their best friend ... their confidante ... the person they could share any secret, any fear and any celebration with. She always had time even though she was a very, very busy woman. Not only a busy school bus driver but also an extremely hard working cattle rancher! Bonnie always had time; her smile welcomed you and warmed your heart ... even we adults knew that Bonnie always had time. She was there for each of us too. Still today the love we all feel for her is evident throughout Valley Home! Bright, vibrant school bus signs “We Love Our Bonnie” are everywhere in Valley Home. The signs are just one way we are able to show the love we will always feel for this amazing woman. You will find those sweet tender signs leading into many ranch driveways, on fence posts, posted on our country roads, on our gateposts and in many, many family gardens.

Bonnie was born Bonnie Elizabeth Gatzman and grew up in Valley Home. Bonnie would enjoy growing up with her brother and sisters, spending hours running through the clover pastures and along the banks of the rice fields here in Valley Home. She would later marry and have precious children of her own; much later she would be blessed with her beautiful grandchildren! In later years Bonnie and her husband Bruce would go on their annual big game hunts each fall, bringing home delicious elk and moose. Always enjoying herself, Bonnie’s freezer was usually overflowing and she loved to share. This week, actually September 6, and all week long ... we celebrate the birthday of this amazing woman. Bonnie loved with all her heart, never one to judge others; she was a friend to all who knew her. We miss you, our beautiful Bonnie, our sweet Angel forever.

In memory of Bonnie Elizabeth Gellerman ... fly high with the Angels.