In Memory of Eleanor Viola Bonneville

In Memory of Eleanor Viola Bonneville who went to her heavenly home on July 19, 2014, at the Frederic Nursing and Rehab Center in Frederic, WI

Eleanor was a dear friend to me in the past few years. I met her when she attended our church several years ago. Then I saw her often at the Sunday afternoon services at the care center. Her eyes were failing and she really missed being able to read on her own so we established a weekly routine where I would come to read Scripture and books to her. She loved the Word of God and would often ask questions that would lead to interesting discussions. I enjoyed having a friend who was 98 years old.

She loved the Lord Jesus and longed to be with Him. She often told me that she was ready to go and she was praying that God would allow her to die in her sleep. When she would ask, "Why am I still here when I can hardly see and I cannot hear very well?" I would tell her, "We need your prayers, Eleanor!" I asked her to pray about my friends in need, my son going to boot camp,  situations in our country and in the world. She amazed me often when she would ask about these specific things the next time I came.  She could remember things better than I.

Last spring we had a touching conversation. Eleanor asked me if I would be at her funeral and I told her that I would be. "Then you are a good person to do this for me. Tell my family and all the people these things for me," she emphasized. "Tell them that Jesus said, 'I will never leave you  or forsake you,  lo I am with you until the end of the age.'" Then she went on to say, "Also tell them 'Gråt inte efter mig' which is Swedish meaning, 'Don't cry after me'".

She sometimes told me stories of her life like when she was born at her family's farm in 1916 (to Gerda and Oscar Olson) prematurely. She was the tenth of eleven children and she only weighed around 3 pounds. She told me that her parents placed her in a shoe box and put it in the oven as an incubator. They took turns monitoring the oven temperature. I was amazed at how God preserved her life.

Another time as a young girl she stepped on a rusty nail. She did not think much of it and did not even inform her parents. When she came into town to meet her sister at the train station, her sister saw her leg and told her that she should have a doctor look at it. When Eleanor did, he told her that if she had not gotten treatment, she would have died.

Her life was preserved because God had many special purposes for Eleanor. The family and friends who were at her memorial service as well as many others who were not, were a part of that purpose. On July 24th I shared with those at her memorial service those things that she asked me to tell them. I will miss my praying friend.