Bonita Dee (Welty) Scheid
Obituary
Bonita Dee Welty was born Nov. 20,
1929, in Newton, to Idell McFarlane Welty and Gerhard Welty, who
raised her and two siblings, Wanda and Earl, in both Kansas and
California homes.
She attended Hesston Academy, Hesston
College and Bethel College before marrying Delmar Ray Byler, son of
J.N. and Edna Ruth Byer, also of Hesston. They served with the
Mennonite Central Committee for two years in Puerto Rico, where their
son Joseph Edward was born in 1952.
Returning to Hesston, Jeanne Marie was
born in 1954 and John Charles in 1957. In 1961, as members St. Luke's
Methodist Church in Oklahoma City, Bonnie and Delmar were called to
serve the United Methodist Church as missionaries to Hong Kong from
1962 to 1968, he as Treasurer and she to teach English as a Foreign
Language in Methodist Rooftop Schools, and to serve as organist for
Chinese Methodist churches. Their 18-month preparation led the family
to Scarritt College (Nashville, Tenn.), Stony Point Missionary
Orientation Center (Stony Point, New York) and on to Yale Institute
of Far East Languages (New Haven, Conn.).
While in Hong Kong, Bonnie very much
enjoyed playing the organ at North Point Methodist Church and Ward
Memorial Church, both Chinese churches. She served for one year as
Chairman of the Church World Service Self-Help Projects and also
worked at the Rice Bowl, where the products were sold. An excellent
writer, she contributed articles for Asia Notebook, The Methodist
World Outlook, Mennonite Gospel Herald and The Upper Room.
Returning to the U.S. in 1968 –
Tenafly, New Jersey -- she worked at Prentice-Hall in the Educational
Book Division. In 1976 she married Bob Scheid in New York City. He
was a widower she met in a Presbyterian Koinonia group who had two
grown children, Nancy and Daniel. Johanna Kebler, who lost both her
parents in Chicago, came to live them at age 12. These three -- Bob,
Bonnie and Johanna -- moved to Brazil in 1980 for six years where Bob
worked to start up a new manufacturing facility for Union Carbide.
In 1986, upon retirement, Bonnie and
Bob made their home in Colorado for the next 22 years- where for much
of that time they operated a real estate company. For 6 years, she
served as Deacon at St. James Presbyterian Church in Littleton,
Colorado.
In her later years, back in Hesston
where her life began, Bonnie wrote avidly about Health and Nutrition,
as well as Inspirational articles for such Christian publications as
Guideposts, Mature Living, and The Mennonite. She wrote weekly
columns for the Hesston Record called Seniors Living Well, which are
compiled into a book of the same name, the proceeds for which have
always gone to her favorite charity: The Schowalter Villa's Good
Samaritan Fund.
A brief burial ceremony is planned at
the Hesston Cemetery at 3 p.m. Thursday, April 14, with the funeral
service at Hesston Mennonite Church at 4 p.m. (Those attending the
graveside service are encouraged to bring a chair if necessary).
Bonnie is survived by her husband Bob
(Hesston) and his children Dan (Denver, Colorado) and Nancy
(Florida); her daughter Jeanne (Austin, Texas), Johanna (Ashley,
Ohio), Laurel (Plano, Texas) and son John (Hesston). Her eldest son,
Joe, died of liver cancer six years ago, on St Joseph's Day. She has
nine grandchildren: Rachel Fisher (London, United Kingdom), Chris
Byler (Brooklyn, New York), Andrew Byler (Northampton,
Massachusetts), Will Byler (Amherst, Massachusetts), Danny and Kevin
Scheid (Denver, Colorado), Megan Button (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), Jillian
and Megan Hon (Ashley, Ohio).
Bonnie was pleased to meet the newest
additions to the family at Christmas: grand-daughter Rachel Fisher
and husband Patrick Cootes brought their twin babies -- Margot
Scarlett and Isaac Wolfgang Fisher -- all the way from London to
Hesston to meet their great-grandmother!
Graveside services will be held at 3
p.m. Thursday at the Hesston City Cemetery. Memorial services will
follow at 4 p.m. at Hesston Mennonite Church. Memorial contributions
may be made to the Schowalter Villa Good Samaritan Fund, in care of
Miller-Ott Funeral Home, Hesston.
Funeral Home
1929 - 2016 (86 years)