Obituary

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.

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