Bonnie graduated from Saginaw High School, Saginaw, Michigan, in 1947 and received an education degree for the Visually Impaired from Michigan State University in 1952. She was a member of the ALPHA XI DELTA Sorority.
Upon graduation, she was employed by Handley Elementary School teaching the blind in Saginaw until she married and moved to Flint in 1954. She taught at Gundry Elementary School until the birth of her son, Joseph B. Butera, in 1957.
The family moved back to Saginaw in 1959. She returned to Michigan State University and earned her master’s degree in 1978. Upon graduation she was employed by Shiawassee Intermediate School District, where she taught the Visually impaired students throughout the county, until her retirement in 1992.
