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Bonnie Esther Harris, 85, of Emmett, Idaho passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by her family on May 12, 2022. She was born March 28, 1937 to Jasper Newton Rhoton and Thelma Odelle Barnhill in Navasota, Grimes, Texas, USA.
She grew up in Shiro, Texas and graduated from Navasota High School. She married A. Deon Harris April 4, 1956 in the Idaho Falls, Idaho temple. She has been a faithful member of The Church of Jesus of Christ of Latter-day Saints her whole life. She served in many different callings throughout her life but the one she cherished most was serving in the Family History Center as a family history consultant. She loved searching for her ancestors and completing temple ordinance work for them. She would willingly help anyone that showed an interest in doing family history work for their own family. She diligently kept a journal for the majority of her life.
For many years she felt that to be a good mother and wife she had to bake bread for her family. It was a sad day for us when she realized it wasn’t true. One tradition she carried on for many years was making pies at Thanksgiving. She would make 20-30 pies beginning early in the week. Because of the number of pies available we learned the easiest way to cut a pie was into quarters. Her favorite was pecan pie which was off limits to us boys.
Mother loved to read. She preferred reading biographies and autobiographies and real-life histories. She also loved poetry and even wrote some of her own poetry. Later in life as they moved from place to place, she would check out books from the local library on the history of the city and county where they were living at the time to help her understand the area where they lived.
After raising a family and spending many years living in Idaho and always wanting to live on the coast, Bonnie and Deon sold their home in Inkom, Idaho, packed most of their possessions into a storage unit and moved to Seattle, Washington for a short time while looking for a more permanent home. Over the next 4-5 years they moved several times looking for that perfect spot to build a home. From Seattle they moved to Ocean Shores, WA; Sequim, WA; Port Angeles, WA; Kent, WA; Federal Way, WA; Astoria, OR; and finally, Warrenton, OR. She loved being in Warrenton. It was such a beautiful place. They moved to Emmett 5 years ago to be closer to family. As they moved from place to place, she would check out books from the local library on the history of the city and county where they were living at the time to help her understand the area better where they lived.
Bonnie was preceded in death by her parents Jasper and Thelma Rhoton, brothers Raleigh Wayne Rhoton, Jared Douglas Rhoton, sister Helen Edith Rhoton, son Brian Kent Harris, and granddaughter Olivia Harris.
She is survived by her spouse Alfred Deon Harris; children Kelly (Tonette) Harris, Lance (Kathy) Harris, Gary (Raylene) Harris; siblings Jacqueline Rhoton, Judy Rhoton, and Hazel Rhoton; grandchildren Katie, Becky, Michael, Mark, Jordan, Matti, Ethan, Emma, Maya, Adam, Christian; as well as 19 great-grand children.
A viewing will be held prior to the funeral on May 20, 2022 at 9:30 AM at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Central Chapel located at 980 West Central Road, Emmett, Idaho. The funeral services will begin at 11:00 AM, immediately after the viewing.
Charitable donations can be offered to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Humanitarian Aid Fund. Humanitarian Aid Fund (churchofjesuschrist.org)
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Bonnie E. Harris, please visit our floral store.