Carol Evonne Olmsted (Bonnette) Alexander
Carol Evonne Olmsted (Bonnette) Alexander was born on a snowy December 26 morning, 1930, in Norfolk, NB. She was adopted December 27th by Iantha and Curtis Olmsted of Neligh, NB. She had a brother, Carl, who came into the world 10 months later. The family moved to Cedar Springs, MI in 1936.
Carol attended nursing school at Hackley Hospital School of Nursing in Muskegon, MI, where she met her life-long best friends, June DeVries and Luella Springham, who taught her to find delight in mischief and adventures! They were a great source of laughter and joy to Carol. Graduating from nursing school was an important accomplishment she achieved in 1956, after marriage and children delayed her dream of becoming a nurse. She and Tom Bonnette had married in 1950, and they had 4 children, Cathryn, Tom, Paul and Karen.
Carol worked for many years at Hackley Hospital in Muskegon, especially enjoying her time in med/surgery. There was great fondness and camaraderie among the staff, and Carol was grateful to be the “room mother” for an amazing team of nurses. She also developed excellent rapport and mutual respect with the doctors, and had many fond memories of the relationships and people she knew there.
As an adult, Carol began to search for her biological parents, and successfully located her natural mother, Leah Whitehorn, in California. When Leah was told the child she had given up for adoption was looking for her, the story is told that tears filled her eyes and she said, “I have prayed for that little girl every day of my life.” Subsequently, Carol and Leah developed a wonderful relationship and for many years enjoyed spending time together.
In 1982, Carol and Tom moved to Morro Bay, CA, and Carol worked in surgery at French Hospital from 1982-84. Later, she helped staff and supervise the North County Outpatient Surgery Center in Templeton, CA until her retirement in 2002. She loved working in surgery, and found great meaning in that career.
In 1993 she married the love of her life, John Alexander, of Cayucos. These two, widow and widower, had a beautiful 1/4 century love affair that included traveling, taking cruises, enjoying family and friends who came to visit their Cayucos Ranch, and enjoying the beauty of the central coast.
After John Alexander’s death in 2017, Carol went to live with family in Santa Barbara, CA, where she became loved and appreciated by everyone who knew her. She was a gracious and encouraging “Noni,” especially admired for her ability to find gratitude in each day. She was known to live by these words: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”
The family is grateful to the caregivers who came to help. They lifted our spirits and our burdens, and became sources of laughter and encouragement. We could not have given Carol such excellent care without them.
Carol left this earth early in the morning on 11/29/21 with family by her side, having been visited by many loving family members in the days prior to her passing. She is survived by four children, Tom (Ofelia) Bonnette, Paul (Karen) Bonnette, Cathy Bonnette, Karen (Richard) (Bonnette) Naumu, and their families, also grandchildren, 2 step-daughters and their families, and 11 great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held on April 30, 2022, at Veronica Springs Church in Santa Barbara, CA.
“Someday you will read or hear that (I am) dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I have ever been. I shall have gone up higher, that is all – out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal; a body that death cannot touch; that sin cannot taint, a body fashioned like unto His glorious body.”
– D. L. Moody