Bonnie Sue Wooldridge, age 88, of Houston was welcomed home to heaven on Wednesday, the 26th of September 2012. Bonnie Sue was born in Jerome, Arizona, on the 15th of October 1923, to Hugh Bradley and Stella Jones Wooldridge. In 1931, the family moved to Houston, where Bonnie Sue would make her home until her death. She attended Houston public schools and was a graduate of Lamar High School and Rice Institute (now Rice University).
Professionally, Bonnie Sue enjoyed a distinguished career as a medical administrator at Baylor College of Medicine, The Methodist Hospital, and St. Luke’s Hospital until her retirement in 1984. Her many and varied interests included birding, history, genealogy, and needlework - she particularly loved her Tuesday night stitching group.
She was passionately devoted to music. She joined the Houston Grand Opera Chorus in 1968 and appeared in numerous opera productions for several seasons. Later, she shared her time and talents as a volunteer with the Houston Grand Opera Guild. She was a Guild stalwart for more than four decades, serving three terms as president during one of the Guild’s most significant growth periods. She was the first winner of the Guild’s Volunteer of the Year Award, and this year the Guild honored her by naming the award for her. She took a special interest in the young artists who came to train in the HGO Studio, and many of them remained in touch with her long after they left Houston to launch their careers. As long as her health permitted, she regularly volunteered in the HGO offices, where her skills, sense of humor, and radiant smile made her a favorite of all the staff.
She is survived by a niece, Sallie Haggard Baker of Weatherford, Texas, and a nephew, Scott Haggard Jr., of Dallas, Texas. Her extended family included many cousins, two great nephews, and a multitude of friends whom she dearly loved. Her only sister, Virginia Wooldridge Haggard, preceded her in death in June of 2012. She will be dearly missed by her family and her devoted friends from HGO and her stitching group.
Friends are cordially invited to a visitation and time of sharing remembrances from five o’clock in the afternoon until eight o’clock in the evening on Monday, the 1st of October, in the library and grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.
The interment service is to be conducted at ten o’clock in the morning on Tuesday, the 2nd of October, at Forest Park Westheimer Cemetery, 12800 Westheimer Road in Houston. A uniformed steward from Geo. H. Lewis & Sons is to be positioned at the entrance drive, so as to guide guests to the interment site.
The memorial service, in celebration of Bonnie’s life, is to follow, at half-past two o’clock in the afternoon, also on Tuesday, in the sanctuary of Chapelwood United Methodist Church, 11114 Greenbay Street in Houston, where Rev. Wick Stuckey, Pastor of Caring Ministries, is to officiate.
Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception in the nearby parlor.
In lieu of customary remembrances, gifts in Bonnie’s memory may be directed to Houston Grand Opera, 510 Preston Street, Suite 500, Houston, TX, 77002; www.houstongrandopera.org; or to The Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, P.O. Box 1892, MS-532, Houston, TX,77251; www.music.rice.edu.
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