Bonnie J. Dean

by her daughter Vicki Dean Stepp

Bonnie Jean Hartwig was born in Firth Nebraska in 1930. She was the oldest of two children born to Henry and Mildred Hartwig. A child of Depression days, she often told of the Christmas when she and her younger brother, Jay, each received a paper sack with an orange and a top in it for their only holiday gifts.

Her mother Mildred Hartwig was a schoolteacher. Bonnie excelled in school and was valedictorian of her high school class. After high school, she moved to Lincoln Nebraska and worked as a stenographer in the x-ray department of St. Elizabeth hospital (1949). She then attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln before marrying her sweetheart Frank Dean, Jr. They had three children: Vicki, Randy, and Dwight. Her ob-gyn doctor was Dr. William Heidrick of St. Elizabeth hospital–Dr. Heidrick bowled with Frank.

Bonnie later worked as a stenographer for a Lincoln-based court reporter, Mr. Elmer Shamburg. Sometimes she accompanied him to work on out of town trials, and Frank had to run things and care for the kids for a few days. Bonnie and husband Frank were entrepreneurs: they bought a small grocery store in Lincoln and operated it successfully. They later expanded into a larger grocery store, that they named “Dean’s Shop‘N Save,” and then sold the smaller store. All Dean family members including the kids helped out with tasks for the businesses, such as carrying sacks of groceries out for customers, and counting items for inventory.

Bonnie enjoyed amazingly good health: she was not on any prescription drugs in her adult life. No major hospitalizations or surgeries occurred since the birth of her three children. Over her adulthood, Bonnie endured four tragic deaths of loved ones due to cancer, losing her father, brother, husband and son—each to a different type of cancer.

In retirement, she and Frank started a lapidary business and made jewelry from semiprecious gems. Bonnie loved learning about turquoise and other gemstones; this continued as a beloved hobby for the rest of her life. She had a passion for world and national current events and was always up to date on the news.

She was the very proud grandmother of three grandsons (David, Marty, and Mike) and five great-grandchildren (Geneva, Sammy, Eve, Teddy, and Larry). She deeply loved all her granddaughters-in-law: Aimee, Amie, and Yana. She turned 89 on July 2, 2019. Her surviving Son and Daughter and Son-in-law all partied with her that day. For birthday dinner, she enjoyed bacon-wrapped filet mignon, au gratin potatoes, and green beans (takeout from Misty’s restaurant in Lincoln). Dessert was a special Birthday carrot cake, her favorite.

The very next evening, July 3, 2019, her health took a sharp turn for the worse–she was taken by ambulance to St. Elizabeth emergency room and fought courageously from that time on. She initially overcame infection, low potassium, and blood pressure challenges to beat them all. However, she then contracted pneumonia and experienced an inability to get food down into her stomach, plus other issues. Mercifully, in only the last few days did she report any pain–it was promptly relieved via appropriate medications.

She entered hospice care on Monday, July 15, 2019, and peacefully left this world during her sleep, at about 4:15am on Friday, July 26, 2019. Her daughter was with her.