Bonnie Ruth (McDougal) Richardson

Bonnie Ruth McDougal was born April 21, 1923 at the old Independence Sanitarium. She was the youngest daughter of John Edmond and Jewel McMullen McDougal. Her father was Superintendent of the Jackson County Highway Department at the time. Bonnie attended Longfellow Grade School. In kindergarten she formed a friendship with Eva May Robinson that lasted until Eva May's death in 2016. Bonnie skipped several grades because of her math proficiency and graduated from Westport High School before she turned seventeen. She and her sister Johnnie (actually Emma Florence) were rooming together and Bonnie was working as a carhop at Roy-Ray's Drive In at 4444 Main, Kansas City when she met F W Richardson.

F W was working as a meat cutter for Williams Meat Company and attending Findlay Engineering College. The war interrupted everything and F W was shipped to Portland where he was stationed with the Army Air Corps and trained as a mechanic. Bonnie drove with F Ws parents, Frank and Bertha, her aunt Emma Bell, Bertha's sister, and a dog from Kansas City to Portland to see him. She later told her children it had always been her and F Ws intention to marry but she didn't tell any of the others. It wasn't until the night before the wedding that his parents and aunt guessed the truth. Like so many wartime brides, she was just 18 when they were married in Portland on September 11, 1941.

Bonnie soon returned to Kansas City to live with F Ws parents and await the birth of their first child, Douglas Frank in 1942. Doug tells the story of how she took him as a newborn on the train to Portland so F W could see his son before he shipped out to North Africa. On the way a helpful stranger had to tell her to add water to the dry formula (Pablum) she was trying to feed her fussy son. She continued to live with F Ws parents whom she called "Mom and Dad" until F W returned from the war. It was probably Frank and Bertha who taught her to be a good wife and mother as her father had abandoned the family when she was young and her mother was frequently absent. While he was overseas, F W sent her the robe she is wearing today, something she carefully saved and treasured for nearly eighty years.

After the war ended and on F W's return they bought their first home at 8104 Montgall in Kansas City and F W returned to Williams Meat Company where he worked until his retirement. Their daughter, Pamela Diane was born in 1948 followed by another son, Mark Stephen in 1952.

Also in 1952 they moved to 6104 Hardy in Raytown, Missouri where they lived for forty years. Bonnie worked for the Thriftway Food Mart in the Raytown Plaza Shopping center at 63rd and

Blue Ridge from 1955 until her retirement in 1985. Bonnie was also a lifelong member of the 1

Raytown Christian Church and an avid gardener.

In 1992 Bonnie decided it was time for them to downsize so she and F W moved to a brand new condominium at 4318 S Bryant Court in Independence, Missouri. They lived there only seven months when an improperly tended barbecue grill on the third floor balcony set fire to the building. Everyone escaped unharmed but the building was a total loss and had to be completely rebuilt. It was eight months of living in an apartment before Bonnie and F W could

return to their newly rebuilt home. When Bonnie finally moved in 2019, only she and her next door neighbor, Bill Norton were left of the original owners in the condominium complex.

Still a gardener, Bonnie planted flowers all around the condominium and kept bird and squirrel feeders well stocked. Bonnie also became interested in genealogy and the two of them were able to travel extensively, visiting churches, cemeteries, and town halls from Connecticut to Utah in search of historical records. She and F W were frequent visitors to friends in Oregon and Utah, her sister in California, and her Aunt Nina in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. They attended reunions with F Ws old army buddies, and also toured Switzerland. Bonnie kept meticulous records of all of their adventures. Bonnie was also able to enjoy her hobbies of cross stitch and filet crochet. Almost every family member and many friends have examples of her work. She would create a piece and F W would use his woodworking skills to frame them.

F W passed on January 18, 2012 from colon cancer. They had been married almost 71 years. Bonnie stayed on in the home in Independence until December, 2019. Increasing forgetfulness dictated her move to Carnegie Village Assisted Living in Belton, Missouri where she could be closer to her son, Doug. She passed peacefully there on 10/4/2022 and will be laid to rest at Floral Hills beside her beloved husband.

Bonnie is survived by her children, Doug, Pam, and Mark, five grandsons, Michael and Bryan Richardson, Frank, Clinton, and Elliott Drake and numerous great grandchildren.