Bonnie Oaks Ripple
January 5, 1955 - April 4, 2021

On the beautiful Easter morning of April 4th, 2021, Bonnie Oaks Ripple was welcomed home with loving arms, back into the presence of her Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Bonnie was born in Provo, Utah on January 5th, 1955 to Charles Elsworth Oaks and Ann Bonnette. She was the youngest of four children and very much enjoyed her role as baby of the family. Her siblings were quite a bit older than her, and by the time she was nine years old, she was the only child at home with doting parents who loved to spoil her. In spite of her being spoiled, she grew into a caring, compassionate young woman, who cherished the people around her and realized the many blessings she had.

Bonnie loved the city of Provo. She looked forward to its Fourth of July celebration each year, and enjoyed spending time in its surrounding mountains. After graduating from Provo High School she attended Brigham Young University with her studies focused on art. She was skilled in sketching, painting, floral design, and for a short time played the guitar. As a young girl, Bonnie’s mother taught her to sew, and it grew into a passion. She used her skills as a seamstress to sew everything from wedding dresses and quilts, to stuffed animals and doll clothes for her little girls. She also enjoyed crocheting and created beautiful afghans that earned her ribbons at the Utah State Fair.

Family was always extremely important to Bonnie. Her parents meant the world to her and she was especially close with her mother. She looked up to her siblings, and always valued their opinions. She cared very much for her nieces and nephews, and looked forward to getting together with her cousins. At the age of twenty-two, she married and started a family of her own. She was blessed with four daughters; Sunny, Nicole, Rossi and Shaunie. Bonnie loved her girls, and best taught them through her own example. She was sweet, gentle and full of kindness. She always gave people the benefit of the doubt, and made time to help those in need. She worked hard at making a happy home for her family, and she valued the things that mattered most.

Bonnie was a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and always had a strong testimony of the gospel. She enjoyed many church callings through the years, but her favorites were being a Young Women’s Camp Director, a Primary Teacher, and snuggling the little ones in Nursery. She loved working with the children and youth, and giving them the love and attention she knew children needed.

For over twenty years, Bonnie worked at Broadbent’s store in Lehi, Utah. Her family joked that she couldn’t call it work, because really it was her hanging out with a bunch of her friends while they decorated things, discussed sewing and quilting, talked about family, and joked about life. She truly loved the sweet ladies at Broadbent’s and considered them to be some of her closest friends. When the Broadbent family retired, and closed the store, she found work at C-A-L Ranch in American Fork, later transferring to the Spanish Fork store. She quickly made dear friends with people at both C-A-L Ranch locations, because that’s what Bonnie did; through her kindness to others, she made friends wherever she was.

Bonnie’s true calling in life was being a Grandma. She adored her grandchildren and loved them with all her heart. She took every opportunity she could to spoil them. There was always ample supply of their favorite treats in her pantry and freezer, and she rarely said no to anything they asked for. Her grandkids knew if they went for a visit to Broadbent’s while she was there working, chances were pretty good that grandma was going to buy them a little something from the store. She enjoyed attending their sporting events, school programs, recitals, and loved going with them on fun outings. She shared some of her grandkids’ love of LEGO’s, and enjoyed building LEGO sets with them. She was one of their biggest cheerleaders, and thought her grandkids were the cutest, smartest, funniest kids in the world and built them up by telling them how wonderful she thought they were. She was so great at patiently listening with interest to whatever it was they wanted to talk to her about. There was no question in their minds that they were loved by their Grandma, aka: Bo Bonnie & Grandma Bo Bo.

Bonnie truly was one of the sweetest angels to walk this earth, and will always be greatly missed by many.

Bonnie is survived by her four daughters, Sunny Gustafson, Nicole (Levi) Gillies, Rossi Ripple, Shaunie (Ryan) Merrill, and her seven sweet grandchildren; Tayven, Braxton, Addington, Elayna, Mattilynn, Maverick, and Vance. She also leaves behind her siblings; brothers Robert (Gloria) Oaks & Richard (Kathleen) Oaks, and sister Beverly Jensen. She is preceded in death by her parents, Charlie and Ann.

Services will be held Saturday, April 10th with a viewing from 9:45am until 10:45am, and funeral starting at 11:00am. Both will take place at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints meetinghouse located at 541 West Center Street in Spanish Fork, Utah. Interment will follow at the Spanish Fork City Cemetery located at 420 South 400 East in Spanish Fork, Utah. Afterward, Bonnie’s family members are invited to attend a luncheon back at the church.

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