Katherine "Bonnie" Greenfield Develle

Ridgewood, NJ, on September 15, 1942, and died at her home under hospice care

from complications from heart problems on March 18, 2024. Bonnie moved to

Kingwood in 1975 and taught children from preschool at the Holy Comforter

Lutheran Church to Green Tree Elementary school as a teacher and later a

reading specialist.

After her own children graduated, she returned to college to get her masters

degree in counseling and then worked as a guidance counselor at Kingwood

Community College, New Caney Middle School, New Caney High School and St

Martha’s Catholic School. She taught hundreds of children to read over the

years.

Bonnie was a founding member of St. Martha’s Catholic church that met in a

local school in the late 1970s, while the church near Woodland Hills Drive was

being built. She taught CCD, and was a lector and Eucharistic Minister. She

participated in St Martha, Mary and Lazarus Friends of Jesus.

She used her skills as a counselor at the diocesan level teaching people how

to survive the loss of a spouse. A few single friends decided to start a group

at St. Martha’s for those who were widowed and divorced called Phase II. As

a counselor she thought those widowed or divorced could best learn from each

others’ experiences as they processed their feelings and new stage of life.

Later she volunteered for Project Gabriel, which collected money and supplies

for pregnant women. For Project Rachael, she led small group counseling for

women trying to heal from having abortions. Over the 18 years she ran Project

Rachael as a volunteer, she enjoyed helping women forgive themselves, the

circumstances, and surrender their lives to God.

Bonnie did not meet her father until she was three years old and she announced

to her mom, “There is a strange man at the door.” She and her mother

waited in Norwich, NY. for her father to return from the army, where he served

as a Combat Engineer on D Day and other activities in France, Belgium and

Germany. She went to St. Paul’s Catholic Elementary School and then moved to

Norwich High School and became drum major of the band. She majored in

Elementary Education at SUNY Potstam.

She met her first husband, the late Dr. Gaylord Greenfield when her college

roommate booked one too many dates for the ice festival and convinced her to

help by going to the festival with Greenfield. They married the day after

college graduation and she worked as a teacher in Potstam, NY, until her

children Heather and Scott were born.

The family moved to Ponca City, Oklahoma, for six years before settling in

Kingwood, Texas, in 1975. She read hundreds of library books to her children,

fingerpainted with them to Tchaikovski’s -1812 overture and Swan Lake. She

taught them to wait out tornadoes under the stairs, and led a Bluebird Troop,

Brownies and a Cub Scout den.

Her children went to St Mary’s Catholic Elementary School, Kingwood High

School and both graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. Scott served

as a Navy officer and Heather became a TV reporter. Bonnie used to joke that

one of her kids protected secrets and the other broadcast them.

After receiving her graduate degree at Sam Houston University, she briefly

moved back to Norwich, NY, to be a counselor in the town where she grew up,

but missed Texas. She moved back to take a counseling job at New Caney Middle

School and enjoyed working with students, who were developing interests that

would pave the way to high school and their future careers.

There she tested students for learning disabilities and helped both them and

gifted students get the extra support they needed. She routinely cross tested

disabled students for gifted programs and gifted students for disabilities as

she found over the years those were often linked. She believed that while a

student may need a special curriculum to develop a gift, he or she may also

need extra support with a problem area.

One of her students flagged her down at a football game to come sit with his

dad, Ken Develle, so he wouldn’t be sitting alone - while Kurt joined his

friends. Months later, in June 1996 Bonnie married the handsome pilot she

called “the love of her life.”

Ken retired as a pilot for Texaco in 2000. Together they volunteered at the

Between Jobs Ministry at St. Martha’s where they helped people discover

their talents, write resumes, practice interviews and network.

Anyone who knew Bonnie could appreciate her Irish storytelling skills, and the

way the same story may get embellished and change over the years. Each one

started with something true, and only those who the story was about knew which

part. The stories, especially of the antics of her students, kept everyone

entertained.

Overall, she had a good heart, good sense of humor and calm demeanor - though

she could be outspoken when it came to those she loved.

She is survived by her husband Ken Develle of Kingwood, her sisters Peggy

Pettingell of Palm Coast, Florida, Barbara Griggs of Dayton, NJ, her children

Heather Greenfield of Reston, VA, and Scott Greenfield of San Diego, CA and

her four grandsons.

In lieu of flowers, those wanting to celebrate her life can donate to Reading

Partners, a national non profit that helps students learn to read at grade

level. (https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://readingpartners.org/about-us/__;!!M2D_dUfSiN4E!MPdw5a7LICWFfLvB5x8vAGK5jxwV_dLugg73On6HJckRjWYMPA7kqNOBQ9K87LjZFJ2TK4fkC6paFXx_0ApB1Ui1pW6m0g$[readingpartners[.]org]).

A memorial mass will be April 11th at 11 am at the Holy Family chapel at St.

Martha’s Catholic Church followed by a private family burial at Houston

National Cemetery.