Bonnie Irene (Reed) Bollman, 102, of Hillsboro, died on Monday, Dec. 23, 2019, at 2:35 a.m. at Montgomery Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Taylor Springs.
Visitation will be held Saturday, Dec. 28, from 10 to 11 a.m. at Bass Patton Dean Funeral Home in Hillsboro. Funeral services will follow, beginning at 11 a.m. at the funeral home with the Rev. Dorothy Browning, her niece, officiating. Burial will be held in Sunnyside Cemetery in Sorento.
Mrs. Bollman was born Nov. 23, 1917, in Sorento, to John Cary and Gertie Belle (Martin) Reed. She married George Oren Bollman on Nov. 23, 1939, in St. Charles MO, and he preceded her in death on March 25, 2006. The couple married on her birthday and it was also Thanksgiving day that year.
She attended Sorento High School and graduated from Greenville High School. She earned her bachelor of science in education from Greenville College, then went on to obtain her master of education from the University of Illinois. She was one of the last groups allowed to begin teaching with a three-year degree.
Mrs. Bollman continued her education while teaching and raising a family, receiving her official four-year bachelors in 1957. She taught grade school, mostly third or fourth grade, at Witt, Nilwood and Girard, before retiring after many years in Pawnee.
She was a member of Woman's Club; Montgomery Retired Teachers; Evergreen Outreach; Litchfield Kitchen Band; Tri-Church Choir; Writers Group through LLCC; and Business and Professional Women, where she instituted a career night at Hillsboro High School. Additionally, she was a longtime member of the Free Methodist Church in Hillsboro, where she served as pianist, Christian education director, Sunday School teacher, Central Illinois conference prayer promoter, among many other volunteer responsibilities.
Mrs. Bollman accepted leadership roles in many of the organizations she was apart of. She also volunteered with Reach for Recovery, a breast cancer support group, and was one of the founding group members of the Montgomery County Cancer Association.
She painted, but was best known for her poems which she made into cards that she enjoyed giving to people she met. She was a prolific poetry writer, sometimes writing one in two minutes.
During her lifetime, Mrs. Bollman resided in Girard, Sorento and Hillsboro.
She is survived by her two daughters, Bonnidee "Bunny" Lewis of Greenville and Georgia Merriman of Garland, TX; one sister, Thelma Gettings of Tucson, AZ; five grandchildren, Kathy (husband Dan) Shimer, Jeffery (wife Sun) Lewis, Jeremy (wife Victoria) Lewis, Traci Lopez and Jason Merriman; six great-grandchildren, Zoe (husband Adam) Dachroeden, Levi Hueter, Dylan Lewis, Andrew Lewis, Hannah Lewis and Brandon Lopez; one great-great-grandchild, Zachary Lopez; and one on the way, Emmi, in February 2020.
In addition to her husband, Mrs. Bollman was preceded in death by her parents; two son-in-laws, Gary Lewis and Frank Merriman; and her siblings, James Thomas Reed, Pearl Ray, Mary Jane Nemec, Winnie File, Opal Coyle and Jason Dale in infancy.
Memorials may be directed to the Montgomery County Cancer Association or Montgomery Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Taylor Springs.
Online condolences to the family may be left at www.basspattondeanfh.com.
