Bonnie Jean Beard was born on November 6, 1924 in Clinton County, Indiana to Clarence and Ruby Smith Beard. She attended a two room school for the first 8 grades and then graduated from Rossville High School. Bonnie attended Purdue University where she met and married Carl E. Geib Jr. in 1947. She graduated in 1949 with a B.S. in Food and Nutrition. They moved to Mansfield, Ohio where Bonnie worked for a short time as an assistant dietitian and then raised their three daughters, helping with Girl Scouts, etc. In 1967 the family moved to Stockton. She was a second mother to their Norwegian exchange student Sissel Toleffsen and to Dee Vu.From 1973 to 1988 Bonnie was the administrative assistant in her husband’s engineering office. She was fortunate to travel with him on overseas assignments to Guatemala, Korea, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. She also enjoyed trips to Europe during which they visited their Norwegian family.
Bonnie was a member of AAUW for 63 years and served as president of the Mansfield, Ohio branch for 2 years. She was an active member of Central United Methodist Church for 48 years and a member of the United Methodist Women. She enjoyed the Stockton Symphony and recently joined the Philomathean Club.
She is preceded in death by her husband of 50 years, her parents, her step-mother, Ruth Branstetter Beard, and brothers Robert and Arthur Beard. Bonnie is survived by daughters Joy Hope, Judy (Ben) Gonzales, and Nancy (Bryan) Caudle. Grandchildren Bryan Edward Caudle, Alejandra and Daniel Gonzales, brothers William (Jean) and Jim (Joan) Beard, sisters-in-law Barbara and Marilyn Beard, brother-in-law Chuck Lang, Sissel Toleffsen and her children, Dee Vu and her daughters Amy, Kate and Jamie, and many nieces and nephews.
Bonnie was a kind woman with a strong faith in God, a deep love of family and friends, a ready smile and laugh, and a zest for living and keeping up with current events.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Central United Methodist Church of Stockton, Stockton Symphony or the Stockton Emergency Food Bank.
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VISITATION
No Visitation will be held.
SERVICES
A Celebration of Life will be held on Sunday, September 13, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. at Central United Methodist Church of Stockton, 3700 Pacific Ave., Stockton, CA, with a reception to follow in the church Fellowship Hall.