What a life it has been!

Life for Bonnie Lynn (Harris) Lagerbom began in Blytheville, Arkansas on March 30, 1933.  Born into a large farming family, Bonnie had a happy childhood growing up on a farm with six brothers and two sisters.  Her Parents James A. Harris and Lena Mae Harris were hardworking but always kind, loving and instilled the importance of an education into each of their children.  Bonnie spent most of her childhood living in Southeast Missouri, walking a couple of miles to and from school each day.  She liked school and aspired to become a teacher. 

 

After finishing high school in 1950, Bonnie taught school for two years in Wardell, MO before heading off to college at Southwest Baptist College and then the University of Mississippi, “Ole Miss”.  Upon completing her degree in education, she headed back home to the family and the farm and taught school again.  After being away at college and experiencing life outside of a small town, Bonnie was restless at home and yearned to explore opportunities beyond the bindings of a small country school.

 

Life as a farming family  sometimes had a harsh reality, with the weather deciding if crops failed or prospered.  It was during one of these times of difficulty that Bonnie found an ad in the paper in which ARAMCO (Arabian American Oil Company) was looking for teachers to come to Saudi Arabia and teach the children of American employees in the oil camps. She applied and got the job in which she tripled her salary.  She could have adventure and also help out at home too.  What could be better?  It was 1957, and Bonnie Harris, a teacher from a small town in Southeast Missouri was on her way to Saudi Arabia! 

 

ARAMCO had over 8,000 American employees in Saudi Arabia at the time, engaged in the exploration, drilling, and management of petroleum production facilities as well as oil tanker loading facilities.  Bonnie was originally assigned to a K-8th grade school in the city of Dhahran, the headquarters of ARAMCO on the Persian Gulf.  New in town and far from home, she went to a party one evening and met a man by the name of Whitey Mason.  He had a southern drawl and when she asked him where he was from he said Blytheville, Arkansas – the place she was born.  What a small world!  From there, developed a close friendship which including his future wife Elizabeth Mason, would last a lifetime. 

 

Bonnie was re-assigned to the school in the city of Abqaiq, the major oil production center located 80 miles inland from the coast.  One day while socializing with a group of young teachers and budding engineers, she met Harry Wisner “Jack” Lagerbom.  She described him as a true gentleman and they began dating. 

 

Still later, Bonnie was assigned to teach in the compound of Uthmaniyah, a camp another 100 miles further out in the desert being built to extend exploration operations into the central deserts of Saudi Arabia.  There she was the sole teacher in a portable trailer, with half of the building serving as a one room school house and the other half serving as her living quarters.  Meanwhile, Jack was working on a major gas-injection project in Ain Dar, half way between Abqaiq and Uthmaniyah and most evenings drove 50 to 60 miles to court Bonnie.

 

Bonnie had four students in grades 1-3.  There was a movie theater and bowling alley in the compound and 5-6 young families who socialized and made the best of the remoteness of their situation.  However they were not completely isolated.  ARAMCO took care of its people by providing top grade food (steak and lobster dinners) and top entertainment (Touring groups – Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain, Lectures – Margaret Meade and Big Band Music.)  After being there a year, Bonnie had a two week paid leave with a trip back to Europe.  She and Jack spent it in Italy and had the amazing opportunity to see the Pope.  Life was good for a young couple in love.

 

At the end of a two-year contract, ARAMCO employees were given a two month paid leave to go back home.  Jack’s second contract was up in May, 1959 so they set up plans to get married on their way back home. While in Zurich Switzerland, Bonnie and Jack were married on May 26th, 1959.  They spent the first month of their leave and their marriage touring Europe.  What a fantastic time that was.

 

The new Mr. and Mrs. Lagerbom visited Vienna, Austria and saw the opera Othello and walked in the famous locations where the “Sound of Music” was made.  From there they picked up a Mercedes 190 SL in Frankfurt, Germany and drove to Monte Carlo at the time of Grace Kelly’s marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco.  They flew round trip to Spain and toured Madrid, Seville and Granada.  Once back in Monte Carlo, they drove to Paris and viewed the Eiffel Tower.  While there, they saw JFK and French President Charles DeGaulle in a parade.  As their month ended, they drove to Amsterdam and sailed home on a Holland American Line Ship, “the Statendam”.  According to Jack, “Bonnie was sick only once – from the time she got on the ship ‘til the time she got off.”  After arriving in the USA for the last month of their leave, Bonnie and Jack drove to Upstate New York and then to Southeast Missouri to introduce themselves to their in-laws and families.

 

When leave was up, Bonnie and Jack returned to Saudi Arabia where Jack had been assigned back to the District Engineering Office in Dhahran.  Bonnie worked as a substitute teacher, replacing other teachers who were home on leave.  During that time they perfected their skills of making home-made beer and distilling their 180 proof whiskey.  Construction work had slowed and Jack grew bored in his position.  They decided to volunteer for force reduction with a big pay out (big pay out for that time.)  It was time to move on to difference places.

 

After coming home and shopping around, Jack took a job with Bechtel in Libya first as single status, then as married status.  Bonnie stayed with her parents until she was able to join him in Libya.  Footloose and fancy free, Bonnie became fast friends with Pat Rutherford and Marilou Summerville.  Many a fun time was had riding through the streets of Libya in their Volkswagen Bugs.

 

From Libya, other opportunities came about which took them to Peru and further on to Johannesburg, South Africa.  During their time in Johannesburg, Jack and Bonnie lived and mixed equally with the descendants of the British and Boers.  They developed a compassion for the Boers (farmers) who colonized a poor and underpopulated country that had then been taken over by British and then Blacks.  From there Jack and Bonnie were transferred to a construction site on a Palabora copper mine on the edge of Kruger National Park.  While there, they went on safari and stayed in native-style roundavels with mud walls and thatched roofs.  They also visited Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia and Victoria Falls in Northern Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe).

 

Their next major assignment took them to Port Hedland in the Australian out back to work on the construction of the copper mines.  It was 1969 and ten years had passed since Bonnie and Jack got married.  One thing “missing” from their lives was a baby.  After trying for some time, it seemed that a baby of their own might not be possible.  Knowing this, Bonnie’s Aunt Lucille contacted her to let her know that the family doctor back at home in Missouri knew of a woman who was pregnant and putting her baby up for adoption.  Bonnie and Jack jumped at the chance.  The minute the baby was born, Bonnie was on a plane back home to meet her baby boy.  They named him Scott Harris Lagerbom so he would have both family names.  She then returned to Port Hedland with Scott to be with Jack.  Bonnie reveled in being a mother.  It was the best thing ever.

 

As the saying goes, “adopt and then you will have your own”, Scott was about 18 months old when Bonnie became pregnant.  The medical facilities in NW Australia were not the best at the time.  Ladies in labor had to go 400 miles back to Perth to stay at the “Stork Club” to have the baby.  Bonnie, with little Scott at her side, chose to head home to Missouri to have the baby.  In 1972 Bonnie gave birth to a daughter, Carrie Lynn Lagerbom.  Again, Bonnie returned to Port Hedland with her growing family and with the help of her brother, Norman.

 

Once the children came along, Bonnie and Jack had a final assignment back in Saudi Arabia until it was time for Scott to start school.  From there, they came state side with Jack taking a position with Bechtel in San Francisco.  They settled in Lafayette, CA for three years, a place Bonnie loved, until Jack was transferred to Houston, TX.  The Houston job didn’t pan out as planned and after living there for four years, the Lagerboms moved back to Lafayette, CA.  With each of these moves, Bonnie made dear friends along the way:  Ann Goll, Toni Crowley, Bonnie Levin, Sue Lewis, Marie Elderkin.

 

The traveling days were over for Bonnie and Jack.  They wanted a stable environment to raise their kids.  Over the next 15 years, Bonnie was a devoted mother to her children.  She was always at home to meet them at the end of their school days.  Her kids came first.  She was always proud of their accomplishments and soothed their disappointments.  She watched both Scott and Carrie graduate high school and college.

 

In 1994, it was time to start thinking of retirement (kind of).  One dream Bonnie always had was to build her own home.  Real Estate prices in California were high so that it would make this dream difficult.  Another thought was to come home to Missouri so that she could be close to her brothers and sisters.  Bonnie built and moved into her dream home on Brock Rodgers Road in 1996.  Thinking he was about to retire, Jack took a final contracting assignment with FEMA in which he went out on location and assessed natural disasters (earthquakes, floods etc).  It was interesting work that he would continue to do for another ten years.  Bonnie would join him periodically on his assignments and the two were able to see many areas of the US that they had never seen before.

 

Meanwhile, Scott and Carrie were prospering in their lives as young adults.  Scott met and married Jennifer Spott in 1999.  A couple of years later, they welcomed their first child, Kaya Morgan Lagerbom on April 22, 2003.  If Bonnie loved being a mother, she was euphoric being a grandmother.  She was always picking up little clothes, books and toys for the baby.  Two years later, her Grandma joy was doubled as little Ava Madison Lagerbom was born on May 5, 2005.

 

Carrie rode her career path for a while and finally married her husband Jeffrey Snyder on October 18, 2008.  The following year a grandson, Ayden Matthew Snyder was born.  Bonnie was so happy to have had both boys and girls for grandkids.  She and Jack would spend any vacation time they had going to see their grandkids and visiting dear friends in California.

 

After Bonnie’s health diagnosis, she said to her daughter.  “No matter how this ends, I have had a good life filled with good friends, love and adventure.”  What could be better?