The world lost Bonnie Barant-Thompson on June 3, 2020. Bonnie was a free spirit who lived many lives in her 72 years. She was a loving wife to Ted Thompson, and loving daughter to Leora Barant. She cared for both of them in their final days. She was also a long-time caregiver to her cousin Susie who she lost in 2018. But she was also an adventurer. Between the death of her husband in 1984 and her return to Michigan to live with her mother in 1997, she lived on a sailboat in Florida and a cabin in Alaska. But in her final years, Reading, MI was her beloved home. She is a former member of the Reading Chamber of Commerce and was a Grand Marshall for the Reading Festival Days. In Reading, she was affectionately known as the Flower Lady. Bonnie was a woman of excess, and this was particularly true about her planters and baskets...and her Santa Land. In 2006 she realized a dream, to build a Santa Land that would serve up to 600 children per year at no cost to parents. Bonnie made things beautiful--at the Senior Center, at Hillsdale College, at countless graduations and weddings. The world will always be less beautiful now that she is gone. She will be missed by many, especially by her loving sister, Rebecca Barant Corkle who cared for Bonnie in her final years. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in Bonnie's name to her Old Fashioned Christmas, care of the Reading Chamber of Commerce.
To send flowers
to the family or plant a tree
in memory of Bonnie Kay Thompson, please visit our floral store.