Monday, November 28, 2022
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Bonnie Florence Cook
11/27/22
Thank you all for coming to celebrate the life of Bonnie Florence Cook. Please read below our family sentiments that I shared on behalf of Bonnie's loved one's at her celebration of life.
"Thank you for all the calls and texts that our family has received. Some of the adjectives that people have described my Aunt are as follows:
Fiercely Generous
Extremely Kind and Caring
Hilarious
Politically Savvy
Mentally tough
Crazy Strong
Stubborn- but only when it threatened her independence
A Cargiver
Selfless
Fiercely Independent
Those generous words completely describe my Aunt. Bonnie was born May 23, 1952 to Walter and Viola McGuigan in Queens NY. Her family is from Prince Edward Island in Canada where she made yearly trips. She was loved and adored by her parents and her family. She grew up in Little Neck NY and remained there for all of her working life.
She started her career at Queens County Savings Bank, where she met my Uncle Billy and once they started dating she moved on to Reliance Savings Bank where she quickly became Vice President. Once my Uncle retired, they moved to their house in Calais Maine. Bonnie re-invented herself and graduated with a masters in psychology from the University of Machias.
Her passion for animals found her volunteering every chance she got at the local animal shelter. It was no surprise some of the fur babies ended up being permanent residents in her home.
After attaining her master degree, Bonnie worked as the TRIO director for Washington County Community College in Calais Maine writing grants, until moving back to New York in 2006. Bonnie moved back to NY and started working at Queensborough College and became the Director of the Student Learning Center.
She absolutely loved this job, especially working with the all the tutors who became her second family. Bonnie truly made a difference in the lives of hundreds of students over the years. She was so proud of the incredible success the program contributed to the school.
When we were going through Bonnie’s apartment, we found many boxes of framed pictures and memory books that her students had given her. Many called her mom.
My Aunt was defined by her work, but her passion for her work was fueled by her love and connection to her students at Queens Borough College.
In 2019, when she suffered from a stroke, and was unable to work…. she lost her sense of purpose and this became the beginning of the end for my Aunt.
My family and I were in and out of my Aunts life throughout the years and in March of this year I got a call from my cousin Donna in Texas (her step daughter) who told me that Bonnie was not doing well and asked me to visit Bonnie at North Shore Hospital and that’s where the journey began.
I became her caregiver and I had to learn, recreate and piece together her life to be able to help her with her health, finances and daily tasks. But as my Aunt was fiercely independent, I recognized that if she was going to trust and listen to me, I needed to allow her to still have control of her life while guiding her through the many challenges and obstacles.
She was hospitalized 4 times and had 2 rehabilitation stays over the last 9 months. After returning home after each hospitalization, a little bit of my Aunt was lost. She remained fiercely independent throughout this last stay at St Francis Hospital (I highly recommend this hospital – the staff is incredible from the doctors, to the nurses and pca’s all of whom treated her with compassion and patience.
She fought up until the last two days of her life, with her main purpose to live was to get home to her Charlie. But in the end, we believe she made the choice to join her true love, my Uncle Billy.
First I want to thank my cousin Donna, her husband Mark and my sister De in helping me from a distance as we made many difficult decisions with and eventually for Bonnie. Second, my family Eleni - who was my rock and sounding board, and to Sophia and Ryan as I spent many hours away from them in helping run my Aunt’s life.
Third my friends who listened and gave me sage advice along this journey. Fourth, her neighbors and friends as you were incredibly important in helping me to navigate and re-create her life, Fifth Tom her attorney has been incredibly loyal to Bonnie and lastly to the " Canadians" - her family in Prince Edwards Island. I feel like we have gained an extended family.
Thank you all for coming.
Whether you called her Bonnie, Aunt Bonnie or “Mom” she loved you all."
Todd Faude, Nephew
516-627-2000