Mom's home town was the very small town of Wasco, not all that far from Bakersfield, in the Central Valley of California. The first photo I found of her in her albums was taken when she was 9-years-old (1941) at the Keene Preventorium in Tehachapi with her dad (Odie Arnold). 

Mom was thought to have tuberculosis and the preventorium was a place for her to get better and not infect others -- treatment in the pre antibiotic days

I think this is a high school year book photo.  On the back it say, "From Bonnie, Jan. 5, 1947."  Mom was 14-years-old and probably a junior in high school.  She would be 15-years-old on March 15, 1947. 

Mom had very few pictures of herself. The next one chronologically, I think, was most likely taken in Bogota, Columbia, when she was in her teens.  The photo is inscribed (to my dad, I suspect) and says, "This was taken in a park about 5 blocks from where we live. They have about 4 arbors like this one in the pic. with those huge vases in front of them. They're bright red, with black and white markings.  If they weren't bolted down, I'd swipe a couple." 

This is mom's senior picture. She graduated from East* Bakersfield High School when she was 16-years-old, which would have made the year 1948.  I never quite understood how she managed to graduate so young, but then she was pretty damned smart!!

* Thanks to Uncle Bob for more precise info :~)

This appears to be a second shot for my mom's senior picture. She inscribed it to to my dad, "Loving you always, Your Wife, Bonnie." 

This is a photo I had never seen.  It is a photo of my mom and dad and I think they had the picture taken to celebrate their wedding.  If I am correct, they were married in Reno in either 1948 or 1949.  The cardboard frame from the photographer is inscribed, "Well, ain't you got a cute wife! Love you, Bonnie"  She certainly was pretty cute!

Here is a picture mom probably took of baby Mike, me, and Dad. Since Mike looks like a pretty new baby this picture was likely taken in late 1953 or early 1954, probably at Bass Lake. 

Probably taken the same day as the picture with Dad, here is baby Mike, me, Mom, and 3-Toed Pete, the cat.

Here is a picture of Mom, Mike, and me.  Given Mike's age, I am assuming that this photo was taken when we live in the Petro Tech camp in Anaco, Venzuela -- Circa 1955.  We lived in Venezuela from 1955 to 1960.

I could not find any photos from the time we left Venezuela until my wedding photos. Mom's brother, my Uncle Bob, took this photo with his fancy new self-developing Polaroid camera. The photo was taken on February 14, 1970, at the Unitarian chapel on Hollywood Blvd. 

The next three photos are of mom with friends and professional colleagues in the 1980s. During that time she did free lance work in advertising in Southern California and also took a job as the Advertising Director at In-N-Out Burger. Unfortunately, I don't know any of the people in the pictures.  This picture with mom sitting on the floor was taken at a party she gave in her condo in Glendale.  

It may be that this picture of mom in the green floral dress was taken when she was on a free lance business trip to the Virgin Islands. 

The third picture looks to be Professional Bonnie. A photo taken perhaps during a business meeting -- back in the day when you could still smoke in business meetings and before she quit smoking.

The last photo from the 1980s, was taken at Mike's wedding in Houston in 1989, I think.

Mom worked with In-N-Out Burgers into the 90s. She loved doing the marketing programs for various target communities, including the hot cars and racing that In-N-Out sponsored.  She also loved working with the artists who designed the specialty shirts and sweat shirts (like the one she is wearing) for their campaigns.

Mom had this photo in her album, so I assumed that she had taken this photo of her brother, Uncle Bob, and Aunt Judy, with their son and mom's nephew, John, graduating from medical school.  At the burial at sea, Uncle Bob was not so sure that mom had been at the graduation from medical school. Rather he believes that the picture is from John's graduation from his undergraduate education at the University of the Redlands,  

Mom decided to retrain in a completely different field after leaving In-N-Out Burger.  She went to a technical school and became an Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN). These pictures are at her "capping ceremony," or graduation from her LVN program.

While the decision to retrain as a nurse was a difficult one, once she began she seemed to enjoy the process.  One of her favorite training assignments was a rotation in the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital, a retirement community, with a fully licensed, acute-care hospital in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles.  Nursing provided her with stable and reliable employment as she prepared for retirement.

After Michael, her son, was killed in a car accident, his son, (mom's only grandchild), Jani began visiting us. He came from Finland every year and spent his summer with us. This picture was taken on Jani's first trip out West. Note the In-N-Out shirt mom is wearing.

Jani came to visit every summer. He flew into Los Angeles from Finland and mom would pick him up. They both loved sight-seeing in the LA area before coming to Nevada. This picture was taken at Uncle Bob's house in Genoa. Uncle Bob gave Jani the black cowboy hat that is in every single picture from that summer visit!  Jani says he still has the hat, but it doesn't fit anymore.

Mom and Bill are engaged in serious reading which of course they say is for Jani's benefit. They had dug out Bill's old comic books and were reviewing them before Jani got a chance to see them.

Here is Mom with Bill and Jani at the airport. Jani is headed back to Finland after his visit "out west," wearing his black cowboy hat.

Every summer Mom and Jani would visit.  This particular summer Jani's Houston cousin, Evans, came for a while and we all went out on Lake Tahoe on the Tahoe Queen.

Jani often brought visitors with him from Finland.  This photo is of Jani's Finnish cousin, Tommy, and Jani apparently serenading mother in a restaurant in Los Angeles.

Tanja, Jani's mother, visited with Finnish cousin Tommy.  Here is mom showing off the wonderful air quality in LA to her foreign visitors.  I'm not sure, but maybe they are up at Griffith Park??

As Jani got older he began bringing friends from Finland. They always loved staying with mom and her showing them Southern California and Los Angeles. 

A final photo of the visit with Mom and the two tall Finns, Jani & Tuomas, on the M S Dixie getting ready to cruise Lake Tahoe.

Finally, Mom was able to travel to travel to Scandinavia.  She was able to visit her friend Christina who had moved back to Stockholm and to spend time with her grandson in his natural habitat. The following series of photos are from that trip.

Jani came to Helsinki from Turku to meet us when we landed. He showed us Helsinki and shepherded us back to Turku on the Bullet Train.

While in Turku, Tanya and Jani took mom and me out to visit Jani's grandparents and to meet cousin Tommy's family. She had such a grand time on the island of Rymattyla!

Mom was introduced to the Finnish ways.  We had a midnight barbeque of Finnish vegetables (sausages) and did the Finnish sauna.  It was a Finnish adventure of a lifetime.

Jani again shepherded mom and me, but this time on a Finnish bus tour to St. Petersburg. Mom got to see the Hermitage, take a river tour through St. Petersburg, and tour the Summer Palace. The history and company was wonderful -- the food and accommodations not so much. But, mom's Finnish adventure was less than 10 ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. 

After visiting Helsinki, Turku, and Rymattyla, visiting her friend Christina in Stockholm, and touring in St. Petersburg, Russia, mom and I headed for the artic circle.  Here you can see mom feeding a reindeer.  Until this adventure, neither of us knew that reindeer molt in July.

This photo of mom was taken at midnight on a July night when we went outside to watch the sun not set. In fact, mom commented throughout the Finnish adventure how odd it was to have the sun shining almost all of the time.

When mom decided she could afford to retire, she sold her condo in Glendale, and moved to Rocklin in Northern California.  She was closer to Reno where I was living, but did not have to give up her Kaiser insurance! She was very proud of her little garden and bird feeders in front of her apartment.

Mother, who had never let me or my brother have a cat because she was allergic to them, adopted two cats while she lived in Rocklin. This is a picture with her second cat, and the love of her life, Cleo Catra the Bengal.

For mom's 80th birthday we all went out for her favorite celebratory dinner -- steak!  This picture was taken at Ruth Chris Steak House in Sacramento. The woman in the picture is her friend, Patricia, who helped her get the designer cat, Cleo. 

Memorial Day Weekend, 2002, mom moved to Reno. She moved into an independent living community, Lakeside Manor, where she and Cleo settled in for the duration. This is a picture taken with the group of women with whom she ate at their dining table. 

The second year that mom was living in Reno her first great-granddaughter was born. Vivian came to visit mom before she was even a year old.  They both look astounded; Vivian saying "Who is that?" and mom saying "How did this happen?" As mom always said, "If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself."  

This is a Christmas card mom made when she was living in Rocklin. The photo is of her and her first adoptive kitty, Billy.  I don't know for sure, but I suspect the photo of Billy & mom walking away was taken by her friend, Patricia.