Obituary for Bonny L. Thayer

Bonny Louise Thayer, known as "The Grand Dame," of Burlington died at 11:10 a.m. Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at Prairie Ridge Care Center in Mediapolis. Born March 26, 1923 in Fairview, Kan., she was the daughter of Miller Aaron Thayer, a farmer and Edna Miller Thayer, an accomplished musician of the Jones Chautauqua as well as a proud descendent of Brigadier General Sylvanus Thayer, the "Father of West Point." Ms. Thayer graduated from Danville Community School in 1941 and in 1961 was internationally registered for speedwriting shorthand through The Burlington School of Business. During World War II, she worked in the atomic bomb department of the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Middletown. She worked in Washington, D.C. for one and a half years as a secretary for the FBI before returning to the Burlington area where she served as legal secretary to Attorney Robert Holstein for many years. The Grand Dame earned her honorary title through her reputation as an artist with a personality as large as her paintings. As a self-taught artist, she began with watercolors and developed into her signature acrylics and other mediums to portray her appreciation of flowers and landscapes. She was a founder and volunteered at Burlington''s Stoerm Cellar art gallery, was a charter member of the Burlington Art Guild and was a founder of the Midwest Painter''s Group at the Art''s for Living Center as well as the Liturgical Arts Festival, held annually at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Burlington. Her most notable contribution to the arts community was conceptualizing and establishing the Snake Alley Art Fair in 1967 where she exhibited her paintings at the top of the alley every year. After a stroke in 2001, she joined Very Special Arts of Iowa and continued to paint until her death. Almost as memorable as her art, were Bonny''s constant companions including her dog Comet, hens Micki and Mandy, cats Angie and Nicki and the legendary Rooster. Survivors include her siblings James Jewell "Jim" Thayer of Farmington; Forrest Grant "Corky" Thayer of Truth or Consequences, N.M.; Lurene Ruth Clare of Camarillo, Calif.; June Thayer Olson of Saginaw, Minn.; 14 nieces and nephews and many great and great-great nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, three brothers Kenneth Miller "Ken" Thayer, Robert Ulysses Grant "Bob" Thayer and Wendall Curtis "Curt" Thayer and one sister Zella Mae Velnar. At The Grand Dame''s request, no formal service will be held. Friends will celebrate her life at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at Tender Trap. Those who would like to join the celebration may contact Lilian Rubin at 319-752-9963 or Ed Zeman at 319-753-5644 for reservations.