Bonnie Lou Graverholt

She loved riding her horse, Boots, to school and went away to college at 16. She graduated with her teacher’s certificate from Peru State and taught in a one-room schoolhouse at 18.

In the fall of 1948, a cousin introduced her to Niels Martin Graverholt. Their connection was instant: they were engaged within a month and married August 24, 1949. Following a honeymoon to Linoma Beach, Bonnie and Martin farmed near Wayne, NE, Herman, NE, and Harvard, IL.

After a short time in Lincoln, they settled in Omaha, where they were blessed with three children – Lori Ann, Hans Christian, and Heidi Marie.

While in the city, Bonnie continued to be a farm girl at heart. She canned fruit and vegetables and minced meat pie filling. She always had the best flowers on the block. And she briefly tried her hand at chihuahua breeding. Bonnie worked at various jobs, including real estate and secretarial work at the Navy Recruiting Office, the Corps of Engineers, and Conagra.

In 1986, their son Chris died in a car accident during his senior year at the United States Naval Academy.

Lori has two children, Dietrich and Nathan. The boys enjoyed spending afternoons with Bonnie after high school, as she lived less than a block from Creighton Prep.

Heidi married Matt Pospisil and has three children, Madelyn, Christian, and Jay. Bonnie became a great-grandma after Madelyn and her husband Peter Williams had twin boys in 2023 – Martin and Hart. They brought a lot of joy to Bonnie’s life.

Bonnie’s care for her family was made evident in so many ways, most of which involved food. She made countless Shepherd’s pies for her grandkids and pans and pans of fudge and cranberry bars at the holidays. Her frog-eye salad was a staple, and it was a good day when she decided to make homemade ice cream. She freely gave her laughter during rowdy rounds of Catchphrase at family gatherings.

Bonnie made the spaces around her beautiful. She cultivated vibrant gardens each year, made amazing arrangements out of silk flowers, and had boxes of decorations to put out for each holiday.

Bonnie loved to travel and generously shared that love with those around her, taking family members on Alaskan cruises, European vacations, and hot-air-balloon rides. Bonnie traveled to all 50 U.S. states (some of them twice, and most of them by bus with her husband, Martin) and over 20 countries, including all of the Canadian provinces.

If you wanted to see Bonnie’s eyes light up, all you had to do was mention a trip to the casino. She went with her brothers, her daughters, her nieces and nephews, and her grandson Chris, whom she would sometimes call from the bathroom when she hit it big.

After her husband Martin died in 2002, Bonnie lived independently for over two decades. She was the architect of her own life and always made sound and brave decisions as she aged. In February 2025, she moved into a memory care facility. For the record, Alzheimer’s disease sucks – but as a family we learned to live in the moment.

Bonnie always made you feel welcome, she always made you feel loved, and she always made you laugh. We miss her, and we were all blessed to have 95 years with her. When God sends a cardinal, it’s a visitor from heaven.

Bonnie passed away on September 19, 2025. She was preceded in death by husband, Martin; son, Hans Christian; parents, Ralph and Marie; brother, Ralph; sister-in-law, Terri. She is survived by her daughter, Lori Huebert; daughter, Heidi (Matt) Pospisil; grandchildren, Dietrich and Nathan Huebert, Madelyn (Peter) Williams, Chris (Tayler Kirtley) and Jay Pospisil; great-grandchildren, Hart and Martin Williams; brothers, Richard, Ronald (Phyllis); nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are encouraged to Kountze Memorial Lutheran Church Food Pantry or the Alzheimer’s Disease Clinical Research Fund at the University of Nebraska Foundation.

A visitation for Bonnie will be held Saturday, September 27, 2025 from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM at St. Michael Lutheran Church, 13232 Blondo St., Omaha, NE 68164, followed by a funeral service at 11:00 AM. The service will be livestreamed: https://saintmichaellutheran.org/specialevents/