Bonnie Sontupe nee Theodore died at her home in Upper Freehold, New Jersey. The cause was pancreatic cancer, which had been diagnosed less than six months ago.

Bonnie was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Dora and Frank Theodore and the younger sister of Irving and Robert. Bonnie's earliest years were spent in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn. Midway through elementary school, her parents purchased a chicken farm in Jackson, New Jersey, where she graduated from Lakewood High School in 1958, and continued to live through her first year of college. She often talked about the shock of moving from the "Big City" to rural New Jersey, but slowly adapting to and taking to the quieter, more rustic life.

Following the untimely death of her father, after her first year of college, Bonnie moved with her mother back to Brooklyn, but she first took a cross-country trip by bus with a friend to Los Angeles, California, the type of trip not often taken by young women in that era demonstrating a tough, independent streak. Bonnie described her return to Brooklyn as challenging, but both she and her mother persevered as a team, her mother somehow managing to keep the family financially afloat while Bonnie attended Brooklyn College (transferring from Douglas College, part of Rutgers University) graduating in 1962, the first in her family to obtain a college degree.

After graduating from college, Bonnie worked as a teacher in an elementary school in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Although she only taught in Brooklyn for a couple of years she had strong memories of the experience, particularly the challenges and satisfaction of working in an underserved community. During this period, she also traveled with a friend to both Greece and Israel for more than a month (by ship), again demonstrating a taste for adventure and a quiet confidence.

Bonnie married Ira Sontupe in 1964, they moved several times, having short stays in Baltimore, Maryland and Orlando, Florida, her life eventually coming full circle returning to New York City, this time with a son, Louis, and a dachshund, Marion, to Rockaway, Queens, eventually settling in Manalapan, New Jersey, where she raised her three children, Felice and Daniel followed Louis and a second dog (Tennyson the German Shepard joined Marion).

Bonnie was actively involved in the Manalapan community, eventually becoming the commissioner of the Parks and Recreation department, she was particularly proud to have a played a big part in bringing the Manalapan Recreation Center to fruition.

When her children reached elementary school age, Bonnie returned to teaching for several years, which included working with high school students in a remedial math program. Although she found teaching rewarding it wasn't her true calling (she was steered into the career by her mother, who told her to be a nurse or teacher), so following her divorce in 1985, she embarked on a career in banking eventually being promoted to the position of vice president for municipal accounts for Bank of America in Monmouth and Ocean Counties, an accomplishment not only a point of pride but self-affirming.

Following her retirement, Bonnie spent most of her golden years in a senior community in Allentown, New Jersey, as her family grew, adding two daughters-in-law, a son-in-law and four grandchildren (plus a few more dogs), she fell comfortably into the role of matriarch and linchpin of the family, her family was everything to her. She greatly enjoyed her later years, although she started out in Brooklyn, she always considered herself a (central) "Jersey Girl," taking refuge in its tranquility, trees, plants, flowers, wildlife, driving the backroads or spending time at the shore. Throughout her life, she was a caring, plain-spoken, self-sufficient, unpretentious (despite her physical beauty…those green eyes…) person who always put others before herself as demonstrated in her being an advocate for not only her son, Louis, who sadly suffered from Multiple Sclerosis and predeceased her, but all of the MS residents in his nursing home and looking out for her friends in the senior community. She was also a lot of fun and not one to turn down a vodka cocktail or two.

Bonnie is survived by her daughter and son-in-law Felice Sontupe and Steve Scherzer, her son and daughter-in-law Daniel and Debbie Sontupe and grandchildren Justin Sontupe and Sarah Sontupe, her daughter-in-law Jennifer Sontupe and grandchildren Ryan Sontupe and his partner Kelly Moyer and Lauren Sontupe and her partner David Woloff.

In honor of Bonnie's life, please make donations to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Doctors Without Borders (a charity she donated to), or any food bank.