Visitation: 9-11 a.m. Sept. 22, at Adams Funeral Home, Nixa. Funeral services will immediately follow. Burial to be held at McConnell-Bledsoe Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations may be made to either Fairhaven Children’s Home, Strafford, or to Central Care Cancer Center, 1501 N. Oakland, Bolivar.
Margaret Ann Bonnell was born Sept. 26, 1941. She passed away Sept. 17, 2018, after a courageous battle with cancer. She was the daughter of the late Glen and Dolly Rogers, from Kennett. After graduating from Kennett High School, she attended Harding College in Searcy, Arkansas, where she met her husband, Charles Wilford Bonnell. They were married Oct. 28, 1962. She went on to earn her degree from Arkansas State University.
Margaret’s 33-year teaching career began at Harding Academy on the campus of then-Harding College, and continued at Aurora High School in Aurora, Nebraska, where the Bonnell daughters, Kim and Kendra, were born. The couple and young family moved back to Missouri in 1966, and Margaret began teaching at Doniphan High School. She continued teaching speech and English until her retirement from DHS in 1995. Margaret also was an off-campus adjunct public speaking teacher for Three Rivers Community College, in Poplar Bluff, from 1981 to 1995. She then resumed TRCC duties at West Plains, following the couples’ move to Nixa in 2001.
Affectionately known to her students as Mrs. B, she had a gift of turning terrified students into confident, poised public speakers by year’s end. While at DHS, she developed a student-led live radio show, Spotlight on DHS, on Saturday mornings. It directed many successful complex play productions and led competitive speech and debate teams to state competitions year after year. Her caring and sincere interest in the lives of her students and the relationship she had with them are what many students remember long after graduation. She loved keeping up with her students on Facebook after she retired. She was an inspiring teacher, impacting countless lives. She will always be treasured and dearly missed.
She loved stamping and making handmade cards with ladies from her church, Union Hill Church of Christ in Nixa. Some of her many acts of kindness were sending a beautiful handmade card or taking a meal to someone in need. She and her family loved decorating for Christmas and putting up the trees early to enjoy every minute of the season.
She will be deeply missed by her husband, Charles Bonnell of Battlefield; and two daughters, Kim Herman and husband Daryl of Nixa and Kendra Propst and husband Robert of Memphis, Tennessee. Her constant pride and joy were her two grandsons, Chase from Newark, Delaware and Luke Herman from Springfield. ‘Grandma’ was a title she coveted, and she loved nothing more than being around the boys, helping them with speeches or papers, making a ‘grandma breakfast’ for them or cheering them on at one of their activities. Margaret also leaves behind her sister, Mary Goddard and husband Jay, of Vanburen, Arkansas; as well as many family members and friends. Proceeding her in death were her parents, Glen and Dolly Rogers; and her beloved cat, Gracie.
The family would like to especially thank Dr. Leo Shunyakov and staff at the Central Care Cancer Center, the staff at The Neighborhoods at Quail Creek, as well as the special friends’ support, for their love and care of Margaret.
