Bonnie Opal Kensinger passed away March 19, 2007.
Bonnie was born Dec. 11, 1920 on the family farm just outside Tokio, N.D., to Edward Sigfried and Emma Catherine Berg, the fifth of 11 children.
Bonnie grew up on the farm and in a farming community. She attended elementary school in Tokio, and high school in Orleans, Minn., as well as Warwick, N.D., While Bonnie was growing up, Mom Berg made sure her children learned to play guitar and piano. All enjoyed singing together and with others. Bonnie worked at a drug store in Warwick for one year, until that store was destroyed by a fire. After attending Valley City Teachers College in Valley City, N.D., one year, earning a teaching certificate, she was enabled to teach school, usually in one-room school houses handling multiple grades. She also cooked on a farm for a little over one year.
The family attended the Assembly of God Church in Tokio. It was through the denominations monthly fellowship meetings that Bonnie met and got to know her future husband, Jim Kensinger and his family. Jim was in the Navy when they were engaged in early spring of 1944 and married at Camp Peary, Virginia that Sept. 3. While Jim was in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Bonnie returned to her parents farm to help because her mother was ill; then moved to California to live with Jims sister, VeOra Zelmer. After the war, the couple moved to Pueblo, Colo., where Jim attended a technical school. Daughter Daryl Dawn was born there. Following school, the family returned to their home state. Jim worked at various jobs including retailing and installing Surge milkers; and Bonnie worked in retail stores, first in cashiering, then in bookkeeping. They lived one year in Minneapolis, Minn., but mainly resided in Devils Lake, N.D., until relocating to Stanwood, Wash., in May 1956.
The day after arriving in Stanwood, the Kensinger family joined the Stanwood Assembly of God church where they were faithful members. Bonnie was active in the Womens Missionary Society. She also taught Sunday School, served as Sunday School secretary, planned seasonal childrens presentations and sang in music groups and in the choir from time to time. The couple frequently sang in special music groups, especially quartets, and with their daughter, when she was older, as a trio.
The Kensinger family was enlarged by the arrival of son Kenneth Karlas in 1962 and the arrival of Scott Stacy in 1965.
Jim and Bonnie down-sized to their home in Smokey Point in 1990; then when it was physically necessary, to Windsor Square in Marysville in 2002.
Bonnie was preceded in death by her beloved husband; parents; brothers, Lowell, Roger and Ralph; brothers-in-law, Harold LaBruyere, Ken Heltne, Robert Ullestad, Arthur Zelmer, Willan Amundson; brothers and sisters-in-law, Russell and Gladys Kensinger, David and Ruth Kensinger; niece, Lonna Heltne Hillman; and her nephews, Warren Zetter and Dean Ullestad. She is survived by her daughter Daryl (Ed) Keiley of Mountlake Terrace, Wash.; son, Kenneth Kensinger of Lawrenceville, N.J.; son, Scott (Andrea) Kensinger; granddaughter, Loral Lynn (Kevin) McConnell; grandsons, Jared and Caleb Kensinger; sisters, Ardys Zetter, Evelyn LaBruyere, Winifred Heltne, Ferne Ullestad, Ruby (Edward) Linde, Cleo (Leo) Carlson; brother, Dennis (Angeline) Berg, sisters-in-law, VeOra Zelmer and Vesper Amundson; many nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews and great-great-nieces and nephews.
Bonnie will be remembered for her great love for her family, gentle care and nurturing to many, her enjoyment of hostessing and visiting with company in her home, reading and studying her Bible, meeting with others of like faith in church and anywhere else. She passed away peacefully in her sleep after several years of struggling with congestive heart failure.
Interment was at the Marysville Cemetery followed by a memorial gathering at Marysville First Assembly on Saturday, March 24, 2007.
Remembrances may be made to any mission oganization.